Demonstrating the power of owning your own label (dBpm Records), Wilco sounds more adventurous on new single “I Might” than the band has in ages. With a discography crammed full of curveballs, one would think that the veteran group would be out of surprises, but on “I Might,” it parcels out sonic goodies like it’s Halloween. The intro is familiar…frontman Jeff Tweedy strumming a simple acoustic rhythm–but then John Stirratt’s speaker-splitting fuzz-bass erupts, virtuoso Nels Cline wrangles his guitar through gorgeous sludge, and Pat Sansone and Mikael Jorgensen dust off vintage organs and glockenspiels. While it’s difficult to make out Tweedy’s sore-throated verses, the images that squeeze through (“pissing blood,” snow cones, “Slim Jim pies,” setting children on fire) are more than vibrant, harking back to the dark surrealism of Summerteeth classic “Via Chicago.”
