Wilco, Sky Blue Sky

This album is extremely good. It doesn't have the unfettered emotion of some previous Wilco albums - Tweedy's angry guitar on A Ghost is Born, the whirring, mechanical intensity of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot - but it's still pretty fantastic. Sky Blue Sky is warm; it's the first apartment after college that finally starts feeling grown up - a real bed instead of a futon, a fridge of bottles instead of cans. There are some wistful feelings about moving on, getting older, but there's plenty of joy in the satisfaction and comfort that a return to structure can bring.

While there are standout songs - "Either Way," "Hate It Here," "Shake It Off," "Impossible Germany," - this album impresses in being able to stay within a fairly narrow range and remain vibrant throughout. There's a consistent, pervasive sound, but it doesn't weigh Sky Blue Sky down. Rather, everything takes flight - not as in fireworks, but as in migrating birds. It is, if not spectacular, then regular and good and homey.