Wilco Announce New Cate Le Bon-Produced Album 'Cousin'

Hear lead single "Evicted"

BY Allie GregoryPublished Aug 1, 2023

Jeff Tweedy just wrapped up his solo tour in Vernon, BC, this weekend, so naturally, it's time that Wilco announce a new album. Cousin is due September 29 on dBpm Records, marking the first release through its distribution arrangement with Sony Music Entertainment.

Recorded at the band's studio, the Loft, in Chicago, the album — which brings together saxophone, "cheap Japanese guitars, and a cinematic, New Wave-style drum machine" — was produced by Cate Le Bon; it's the first time the band have let an outside producer take over since Sky Blue Sky.

"Cate is very suspicious of sentiment," Tweedy said in a release, "but sheʼs not suspicious of human connection.

Le Bon added, "The amazing thing about Wilco is they can be anything. They're so mercurial, and thereʼs this thread of authenticity that flows through everything they do, whatever the genre, whatever the feel of the record. There arenʼt many bands who are able to, this deep into a successful career, successfully change things up."

The album is previewed today by Phil Lesh-indebted lead single "Evicted," on which Tweedy ruminates on being, ahem, evicted "from your heart," and deserving it.

"I guess I was trying to write from the point of view of someone struggling to make an argument for themself in the face of overwhelming evidence that they deserve to be locked out of someoneʼs heart," he explained. "Self-inflicted wounds still hurt and in my experience theyʼre almost impossible to fully recover from."

The band will take the album on tour in September and October, though they have no plans to bring their show to Canada thus far.

In lieu of hearing it live, check out "Evicted" below, and see the album's tracklist below that.


Cousin:

1. Infinite Surprise
2. Ten Dead
3. Levee
4. Evicted
5. Sunlight Ends
6. A Bowl and a Pudding 
7. Cousin
8. Pittsburgh
9. Soldier Child
10. Meant to Be

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