Sukierae

Rating

Album: Sukierae
#	Song Title		Time
	Disc 1
1)	Please Don't Let Me Be So Understood	More Info...
2)	High As Hello	More Info...
3)	World Away	More Info...
4)	Diamond Light Pt. 1	More Info...
5)	Wait For Love	More Info...
6)	Low Key	More Info...
7)	Pigeons	More Info...
8)	Slow Love	More Info...
9)	Nobody Dies Anymore	More Info...
10)	I'll Sing It	More Info...
11)	Flowering	More Info...
12)	Desert Bell	More Info...
13)	Summer Noon	More Info...
14)	Honey Combed	More Info...
15)	New Moon	More Info...
16)	Down From Above	More Info...
17)	Where My Love	More Info...
18)	Fake Fur Coat	More Info...
19)	Hazel	More Info...
20)	I'll Never Know	More Info...
	Disc 2
1)	Flowering	More Info...
2)	Desert Bell	More Info...
3)	Summer Noon	More Info...
4)	Honey Combed	More Info...
5)	New Moon	More Info...
6)	Down From Above	More Info...
7)	Where My Love	More Info...
8)	Fake Fur Coat	More Info...
9)	Hazel	More Info...
10)	I'll Never Know	More Info...

Album: Sukierae
#	Song Title		Time
	Disc 1
1)	Please Don't Let Me Be So Understood	More Info...
2)	High As Hello	More Info...
3)	World Away	More Info...
4)	Diamond Light Pt. 1	More Info...
5)	Wait For Love	More Info...
6)	Low Key	More Info...
7)	Pigeons	More Info...
8)	Slow Love	More Info...
9)	Nobody Dies Anymore	More Info...
10)	I'll Sing It	More Info...
11)	Flowering	More Info...
12)	Desert Bell	More Info...
13)	Summer Noon	More Info...
14)	Honey Combed	More Info...
15)	New Moon	More Info...
16)	Down From Above	More Info...
17)	Where My Love	More Info...
18)	Fake Fur Coat	More Info...
19)	Hazel	More Info...
20)	I'll Never Know	More Info...
	Disc 2
1)	Flowering	More Info...
2)	Desert Bell	More Info...
3)	Summer Noon	More Info...
4)	Honey Combed	More Info...
5)	New Moon	More Info...
6)	Down From Above	More Info...
7)	Where My Love	More Info...
8)	Fake Fur Coat	More Info...
9)	Hazel	More Info...
10)	I'll Never Know	More Info...

Performer Notes

Audio Mixer: Tom Schick.
Recording information: Future Perfect, Los Angeles, CA; The Loft, Chicago, IL.
Photographer: Zoran Orlic.
Since it has become fashionable to derisively refer to Wilco's music as "Dad Rock," it seems fitting that Jeff Tweedy would cleverly point to his own dadness by making an album with one of his sons. Sukierae, credited to Tweedy, features Spencer Tweedy, Jeff's 18-year-old son, on drums and percussion, while the rest of the instruments (except for some keyboards and backing vocals) are handled by Jeff. This father and son bonding comes at a difficult time in their personal lives, as Susan Miller Tweedy -- Jeff's wife and Spencer's mom -- was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in early 2014. None of the songs on Sukierae deal directly with this sort of familial crisis, but there's a note of struggle and hope in songs like "Wait for Love" and "Nobody Dies Anymore," while the opening lines of "New Moon" -- "Well, I've always been certain nearly all of my life/One day I'd be your burden and you would be my wife" -- clearly refer to the ways time and circumstance can change the balance of a relationship. But whatever the literal or metaphorical meaning of the lyrics on Sukierae, musically this album finds Jeff Tweedy stepping away from the grand-scale sound of Wilco for a set of songs that feel significantly more intimate and personal. Spencer's drumming certainly makes a difference; his style is solid but with an exploratory bent, sometimes throwing in rhythms and fills that recall hip-hop beats while elsewhere bringing out slightly prog-like colors on the toms and cymbals, and if he's not as precise as Wilco's Glenn Kotche, his percussion (which is played up strong in the mix) gives this music an organic sound that fits the songs well. As for Jeff, he's never been a virtuoso guitarist, but on Sukierae he gives himself more room to explore on his instruments than he has since his work with the side project Loose Fur, and his instrumental work, elemental but atmospheric, cuts to the core of these melodies, which are frequently downbeat but also quite beautiful. In their own low-key way, these songs sound like Jeff Tweedy's most passionate, heartfelt work since Wilco's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, and Sukierae is a powerful, emotionally naked work that gives him a chance to do things he likely couldn't have made work quite so well with his band. And if this is Dad Rock . well, sometimes dads have stories worth hearing, and Sukierae shows that Jeff Tweedy more than qualifies. ~ Mark Deming

Professional Reviews

Rolling Stone - 4 stars out of 5 -- "Pop Tweedy is one of the most emotionally fluent American songwriters around....It all adds up to another tour de force from a guy who's made a few."

CMJ - "Jeff Tweedy plays every instrument on SUKIERAE, and his son Spencer Tweedy handles the drums. His drumming, which we also heard on the Jeff Tweedy-produced Mavis Staples album One True Vine, works wonderfully on SUKIERAE..."

Paste (magazine) - "The album begins with noisy, lurching guitar and explosive drums...then wends its way through buoyant pop songs, drowsy folk numbers and thorny experimental stretches that explore shifting rhythms and hypnotic drones."

Pitchfork (Website) - "Spencer gives 'Diamond Light, Pt. 1' its jittery gallop, 'Low Key' its low-key hustle, 'World Away' its classic rock rumble..."

Clash (magazine) - "'Fake Fur Coat' recalls the simple pleasures of Tweedy's interpretations of Woody Guthrie's work some 15 years ago."