Track Review: Wilco – “I Might”

[dBpm; 2011]

“I Might,” the first single off Wilco’s 8th studio LP The Whole Love, features throbbing, funky bass lines along short bursts of scathing electric guitar and quick lyrical shots. Set for a September 27 release, The Whole Love is slated as Wilco’s inaugural album off their “employee-owned” label dBpm. But why wait? The single is available now on translucent 7’’ vinyl, paired with an àpropos cover of Nick Lowe’s “I Love My Label.”

The Chicago-based band, led by singer-songwriter Jeff Tweedy, have put together an impressive string of commercial victories over the last decade, leveraging cult classic Yankee Hotel Foxtrot to break into the Billboard’s top 5 with guitar-saturated rumination Sky Blue Sky and 2009’s eponymous-ish LP Wilco (The Album). Sure, some snot-nose naysayers may lob hackneyed “Dad-Rock” taunts at the veteran ensemble, but wasn’t the emotionally variegated Sky Blue Sky packed with enough deep sentiment to put a gag on that racket?

A self-described “obnoxious and irreverent” pop tune, “I Might” has Tweedy’s youthfully exuberant instrumentation giving way to a rakish reality check: “It’s Alright / You won’t set the kids on fire.” In a playful taunt, the Wilco frontman proclaims: “Ooo hoo hoo but I might / It’s Alright!”

7/10