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Wilco "Happens" in Spring

Group wraps NYC recording sessions for fifth album

December 8, 2003 12:00 AM ET

Wilco took a break from recording their fifth album over the Thanksgiving holiday. The group spent two weeks recording in New York City before returning to its native Chicago to put the finishing touches on the record, which is slated for a spring release.

Wilco have recorded thirty songs -- including "Wishful Thinking," "At Least That's What You Said," "Kicking Television," "Panthers," "Hell Is Chrome," "Muzzle of Bees," "Theologians" and "Company in My Back" -- that might make the final cut for the album, which has been tagged with a pair of tentative titles including "Wilco Happens" and "dBpm." The latter was also the name put on a set of improvisational songs the group recorded over the span of a week in 2002.

Whatever the name, the group is co-producing the effort with Jim O'Rourke, who engineered Wilco's last release, 2002's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. And in addition to frontman Jeff Tweedy, bassist John Stirratt, drummer Glenn Kotche and keyboardist Leroy Bach, the group has also been recording with keyboardist/laptop twiddler Mikael Jorgensen, who has toured with Wilco, but didn't play on Foxtrot.

"We've been recording for so long we're trying to figure out what it's going to be," Stirratt told Rolling Stone. "It has elements of that Yankee Hotel Foxtrot dryness and kraut-rock vibe but [some] sessions have been a lot more of a live organic, live vocal vibe. We're just waiting to see what kind of record pops out."

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