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If the actual walls of the Chelsea Hotel — walls weathered by
age and fame, dented and stained, blind witnesses to punk-rock legend
— could make their own music, it probably would sound nothing
like Jeff Tweedy's mournful, mysterious score for Ethan Hawke's
directorial debut, "Chelsea Walls." The seven instrumental pieces
written and performed by Wilco frontman Tweedy and drummer Glen
Kotche are endeavors in rootsy experimentalism, traversing from
hypnotic drone to savage rhythm to blissful guitar tweakings. Tweedy
rends a new sound from his palette of country, rock, noise and folk,
something wide and elusive that's not really any of those things,
just as Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, Wilco's latest album, is all of
them.
Those looking for "Foxtrot Part Deux" won't find it in the thick,
echo-y drones of "The Wallman," or the squealing locomotive
propulsion of "Red Elevator." Many of these tracks, especially
"Hello, Are You There?" and "Finale," are built on a calming
repetition undercut by a real sense of restlessness; however
beautiful Tweedy's piano tinklings sound amid the cyclical guitar
riff in "Finale," the music feels like a soundtrack to constant
motion — someone walking or, better yet, swimming, floating
towards a point off somewhere in the distance. A handful of these
songs sound like trains rumbling past, a chugging sound of steel on
steel, defiant in their repetition and boldly recalling traditional
American music — its sound and its purpose.
The experimental streak Tweedy's fostered since the first track on
"Being There," and which has played a more prevalent role in his
songwriting consistently since then, finds its way onto this album
right from the beginning. Some electronic derring-do on "Opening
Titles" makes Tweedy's guitar sound like a didgeridoo; I'm still not
entirely convinced it's not. Walls of keyboards, feedback, and subtle
tribal drumming color Tweedy's mostly controlled and thoughtful
compositions, hiding some pretty nitty-gritty gee-tar playin' under
some serious knob turning. At 7-11 minutes in length, some of these
tracks smack of self-indulgence, but such are the problems with
releasing a film score as a popular-music CD.
The rest of the disc is filled out with hits and misses. The hits:
"When the Roses Bloom Again," a spooky lament taken from the Mermaid
Avenue sessions with Billy Bragg, and "Promises," an older
acoustic-based Wilco tune. Also, Jimmy Scott's take on John Lennon's
"Jealous Guy" is a heartbreaking, soulful affair. The misses: a cover
of Wilco's "The Lonely 1" performed by "Chelsea Walls" actor Robert
Sean Leonard, and Leonard's cover of the traditional song, "Softly
and Tenderly Jesus is Calling." Leonard's voice, though able, seems
to be missing a heart behind it, and his words fall flat out of his
mouth.
Fortunately, Tweedy's instrumental pieces make up the majority of the
album. And if they're not exactly what Wilco fans are expecting, they
at least prove that the growth and brilliance Tweedy demonstrated on
Foxtrot weren't a fluke.
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