Wilco - A Ghost is Born

By Maddy Cristall

Wilco is often reduced to a “dad rock” band, just like The War on Drugs. This is typically said by those who haven’t taken the time to delve deeply into either band’s discography. Those who do know more than three Wilco songs tend to love the band for unexpected reasons. Many of their songs feature zany freakout guitar solos, Frank Zappa-esque risks and ultimately lyrics that are trying to break your heart.

A Ghost is Born (2004) is Wilco’s fifth album and follow up to the groundbreaking record Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. Like most albums that are particularly resonating to the listener, I remember the moment I first heard it. It had been out for years and, plot twist….I thought Wilco was a boring dad rock band. I was sitting on the floor of my basement suite in Victoria, B.C. I was in my super early 20s; young, restless and bored with an infinite curiosity towards music. I found it on CD (yes, a CD) as I found the album artwork compelling. I put it on full volume one phantom afternoon and listened to it over and over and over and over. I instantly got lost in the depths of the record. It was as if a ghost itself had eternally arrested me to this haunting explosion of an album. The impossibly catchy melodies paired with the completely shameless guitar squeals speak directly to the insatiable thirst inside of me for meaning and chaos.

The first track “At Least That’s What’s You Said” is a reckless fifteen-minute jarring and goosebump-inducing ballad that perfectly sets the tone for this emotional sonic experience. Frontman Jeff Tweedy said it is the song “most people will hate” and he didn’t seem to care, which is wonderfully apparent. I feel as though my general introduction as a proudly loud (and sometimes misunderstood) human being relates to this track. A bull in a china shop can’t help that it was placed in a goddamn china shop.

The rest of the record ebb and flows between shattering guitar riffs (played by Tweedy himself) and contrasting self-aware lyrics, ie: “If I ever was myself I wasn’t at night”. Tweedy said that the intentional tension in the record is an “aural replica of migraines that propelled him towards pharmaceuticals” which nearly destroyed his life before he got clean. There is a paralyzing realness to this music, from the bold introduction to the melodic sing-alongs such as the track “Handshake Drugs”, the cynical “Theologians”, the head-bopping “Spiders/Kidsmoke” to the outro which is somehow even weirder than the intro. It wasn’t particularly critically acclaimed, especially as Yankee Hotel Foxtrot is one of the few albums of all time rated 10/10 on Pitchfork while this one received a mere 6.6. It isn’t radio friendly, it definitely isn’t dad rock, and I love every second of it.