So I've lived with this record for two or three weeks now, and I like it about as much now as I did after the first listen - which is to say, rather a lot. It really sounds like nothing so much as the new Wilco album, and so on the account of course I'm much into it; as far as their past stuff goes, the best 'hybrid' description is probably Being There meets A Ghost Is Born. They played, I reckon, about half of it at their show the other week, and the songs are the type to stick in the mind after just one or two listenings, and have that Wilco trick of getting particular lines (lyrical and otherwise) particularly embedded, and likely to pop up frequently and unexpectedly (I had the titular hook from 'Shake It Off" running around in my head at work the other day; the lines "the more I think about/The more I'm sure it's you" materialise a fair bit too; etc). That said, most of the best bits are the glorious electric guitar moments, obviously.
I always find it tricky to extract particular Wilco songs from their albums as my favourites, but at present I think I particularly like "You Are My Face", "Impossible Germany", "Side With The Seeds", "Hate It Here" and "Walken", though Sky Blue Sky really works particularly well as a whole (the bookends are important to that sense - "Either Way" and the first half of "You Are My Face" easing the listener in, and then "What Light" and "On and On and On" taking it out in mellow, thoughtful fashion. Anyhow, all round a very consistent set, and excellent with it.
