Jeff Tweedy says he’ll release a 30-song album, Twilight Override, September 26.
The Wilco frontman released four songs off the new album, including the opening and closing tracks, One Tiny Flower and Enough.
The other songs, now streaming, are Out in the Dark and Stray Cats in Spain.
I’ve given them multiple spins and they’re all solid.
The physical release is going to be three compact discs or three LPs, described by Tweedy as three chapters.
Here’s what he says in his publicity statement:
The three chapters of Twilight Override stand alone, but together, they tell a story of the past, present and future. Each of today’s singles is picked from one of the discs comprising Twilight Override, offering a peek at the musical and thematic range to come.
When you choose to do creative things, you align yourself with something that other people call God. And when you align yourself with creation, you inherently take a side against destruction. You’re on the side of creation. And that does a lot to quell the impulse to destroy. Creativity eats darkness.
Sort of an endless buffet these days—a bottomless basket of rock bottom. Which is, I guess, why I’ve been making so much stuff lately. That sense of decline is hard to ignore, and it must be at least a part of the shroud I’m trying to unwrap. The twilight of an empire seems like a good enough jumping-off point when one is jumping into the abyss.
Twilight sure is a pretty word, though. And the world is full of happy people in former empires, so maybe that’s not the only source of this dissonance. Whatever it is out there (or in there) squeezing this ennui into my day, it’s fucking overwhelming. It’s difficult to ignore. Twilight Override is my effort to overwhelm it right back. Here are the songs and sounds and voices and guitars and words that are an effort to let go of some of the heaviness and up the wattage on my own light. My effort to engulf this encroaching nighttime (nightmare) of the soul.
He’s also planning a tour that includes a stop in Chicago at the Salt Shed November 1.
Tickets go on sale this week.
Separately, Wilco is playing a sold-out show at Salt Shed August 10.
Check out Tweedy’s new solo songs at Spotify et al. Or you can listen and preorder a digital version at Bandcamp.
Here’s a video for One Tiny Flower.
And here’s a video for Out in the Dark.
All the Young Punks 