The parallel between Wilco and Jeff Tweedy and Jay Farrar and Son Volt has been hard to ignore. When Uncle Tupelo broke up,
and the songwriters went their separate ways, it was anyones guess as to whom would be the bigger success with their new bands. It started off easily enough, Wilco released a rather rushed and not incredibly well accepted debut in A.M. While Son Volt on the other hand, dropped a classic on the masses with Trace.
Since that time though, Wilco has been catapulted into super indie stardom, while Farrar has disbanded Son Volt, gone solo, and then brought the band back together 10 years after their first album for Okemah And The Melody Of Riot . And now both bands prep another album, with different band members, but the same heads in Tweedy and Farrar. We have already been talking lots of Wilco here, but the Son Volt album, in true Farrar fashion, has been more of a sleeper although it hits stores today.
The new album, Search, gave me a bit of a shock upon listen to the first single, The Picture . With its horns and upbeat jazziness it makes one wonder what exactly has Jay Farrar so happy? The landscape of colorful sound is certainly a departure from previous Son Volt works, but its a good thing in my opinion. There are still plenty of guitars on the album however, so dont freak out too much about the horns SV fans. And Farrar never fails to wax poetic about the current political state as well, actually he shreds pretty hard on Automatic Society.
So, when you head out to buy that Arcade Fire disc today, pick up this one as well if you have a couple extra bucks, you may be pleasantly surprised.
Technorati Tags: Jeff Tweedy, Jay Farrar, Wilco, Son Volt
