Wilco guitarist Nels Cline has gone down a new musical path on his latest solo outing, Lovers. Usually when he strays away from his band he does jazz whereas this time it is a completely instrumental album with plenty of influence from the Fifties. Tapping into the great American Songbook for several of the titles like “Glad to be Unhappy” and “Beautiful Love”. This is an album that is made up of songs of romance. There are also several more modern songs tackled here like Sonic Youth’s “Snare, Girl” and Arto Lindsay’s “It Only Has to Happen Once”. Totally the sounds of love. At times haunting but always erotic sounding. The silence proves that the emotion we call love needs no words. There is a constant swing between avant guard and orchestra on most here. He has gathered together a group of outstanding musicians to form his orchestra. Zeena Parkins is on harp, Kenny Wollensen is on marimba, Erik Friedlander on cello, Julian Lage on guitar and JD Harran on saxophone. With the precise and exquisite arrangements and playing on the album you know this was worked on for a long time before being released.
Nels Cline – Lovers (2CDs)
