Born Again in the USA

The eponymous first album from Loose Fur, the Wilco side project that includes Jeff Tweedy, Glenn Kotche, and uber-producer/art-rocker Jim O'Rourke, was seen by many as a safe house for further indulging the sonic experiments found on Wilco's YANKEE HOTEL FOXTROT. This time out, the band switches from arty side-project to ragged super-group, and cuts loose to play some rock & roll.
As the album's title suggests, there's a satirical, irreligious tendency at work here, but the focus is on crunchy riffs and tight, well-crafted songs that run the gamut from lilting alt-country to straight ahead 4/4 guitar-rockers. Fans will enjoy hearing Tweedy play bass on a number of these tracks as fiercely as he once did for Uncle Tupelo, and the fun that he, Kotche, and O'Rourke had making this album comes through as clear as day.