Wilco – Hot Sun Cool Shroud EP

This six-track EP (a mere 18 minutes) is a collection of leftovers from Wilco’s last album, 2023’s Cousin. They were demos that were then finished by Jeff Tweedy and engineer Tom Schick. Wilco sold an exclusive white vinyl Hot Sun Cool Shroud pressing at their Solid Sound festival, and CDs will be available for sale later this year. For now, the rest of us can enjoy the EP on streaming (for me, that means 24-bit/96 kHz FLAC on Tidal).

I liked Cousin. Although it wasn’t an innovation for Wilco, it was a perfection of what they do best. In my Cousin review, I said:

“Sonically, this album is a mature update of the Yankee Hotel Foxtrot aesthetic. There is a bias toward the prettier side of Wilco – which is prettier than ever.”

Per Tweedy on this EP:

“This year we’re putting out an EP with a summertime-after-dark kind of feeling. It starts off pretty hot, like heat during the day, has some instrumentals on it that are a little agitated and uncomfortable and ends with a cooling breeze. There are tracks on Hot Sun Cool Shroud that are more aggressive and angular than anything we’ve put out in a while, and a song about love melting you like ice cream into a puddle of sugary soup. All the pieces of summer, including the broody cicadas.”

“HOT SUN” is lyrically simple: a day so hot you are motivated to nothing. Musically, it is classic Wilco: gorgeous melody, cool riffs, folk-rock arrangement, and a gust of guitar squall.

“LIVID” is a short noise rock instrumental.

“ICE CREAM” – is a mellow atmospheric lullaby. The lyric starts out simple:

“When I first saw you
You said I was cool
Enough to be
Ice cream

You melted me
On the floor…”

But things get more complicated from there, and it seems to be about a relationship in which each party disappoints the other.

“ANNIHILATION” is an upbeat rocker sonically. Lyrically, it is darker: a kiss that destroys, and the lovers are okay with that devastation.

“INSIDE THE BELL BONES” is another noisy instrumental.

“SAY YOU LOVE ME” is a pretty Beatlesque ballad. It is a beautiful reminder that despite someone unique being gone, that person’s light remains. This is the gem of the album.

This EP is a nice little treat of Wilco—a Cousin desert.