Wilco: Yankee Hotel Foxtrot

By RUSSELL BAILLIE

(Herald rating: * * * * )

On their fourth album it seems that these perennial critics' faves and stalwarts of American alt-country have swerved to one side. It's a case of much less country, much more alt.

Well that's how Yankee Hotel Foxtrot sounds, as it frequently crackles with feedback, oddball and electronic percussion, quietly berserk guitars, wobbly synthesisers, and distressed pianos.

It'll be initially jarring to anyone wanting the rustic-rock directness of predecessor summerteeth.

But it starts to make sense soon enough and the friction of songwriter Jeff Tweedy's heart-bruised songs and all that sonic weirdness makes for a set which evokes an air of quiet desperation.

That edgy mood might also be explained on a combination of label difficulties and the near-disintegration of the band - drummer Ken Coomer and multi-instrumentalist Jay Bennett departed during its making.

Throughout, Tweedy's songs portray him as a man out-of-sorts, especially on the woozy opener I Am Trying to Break Your Heart, and as he ruminates over the minimalist drone of Radio Cure.

Elsewhere, Jesus Etc is intimate countrified soul in the Lambchop vein, Ashes of American Flags and I'm the Man Who Loves You again recall Wilco's Beatles leanings, and Heavy Metal Drummer runs close to the wry and wiry alt-pop of Pavement.

Yankee Hotel Foxtrot tunes Wilco on a different frequency but it's one that makes you listen even closer.

Label: Nonesuch/Warner