Since the recording of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, it appears, most of Wilco have quietly left the band and been replaced by a new lineup. Listening to this twisted, tortured album, you can see why - since hearing it is such a depressing experience, what must it have been like to make? Jeff Tweedy has never exactly been the sunniest of characters, but he croaks his way through most of these intensely bleak songs as if he'd rather be drowning his sorrows somewhere else. While this relentless introspection gets a bit wearying, there's compensation in the form of some gorgeous music - .delicate violins, pedal steel and piano - going to show why Wilco are commonly regarded as kings of the alt.country scene. With fewer memorable melodies here than on previous efforts, however, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot can only be described as a bit of a hard slog. For dedicated fans only.
