Wilco's 8th, 'The Whole Love'

Wilco's eighth album, "The Whole Love" (dBpm / Anti-), is bookended by a seven-minute snarl of sound collage and battling rhythms ("Art of Almost") and a 12-minute folkie epic that tackles life and death ("One Sunday Morning").

So, yeah, a lack of ambition is no longer a problem.

After the three pleasant but increasingly settled albums that followed the breakthrough "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot," Wilco has once again reasserted itself as a rock band filled with wild ideas and loads of issues to work through.

As the title suggests, singer-guitarist Jeff Tweedy has opted for a more holistic approach, tackling issues of love and life from a variety of vantage points, both lyrically and stylistically.

He can be straightforward and playful, as he is in the upbeat single "I Might." He can be moody and contemplative, as he is in the orchestral folk of "Black Moon." And he seems on the surest footing with the clattering defiance of "Born Alone," driven by churning guitar that gradually gets increasingly more agitated as Tweedy declares, "I was born to die alone."

"The Whole Love" is overflowing with cool twists and unexpected turns -- like the bloopy synths that invade the otherwise Tin Pan Alley-era "Capitol City" -- meant to confound conventional thinking.

Is Wilco an experimental rock outfit or an alt-folk group looking to tell interesting stories over pretty backdrops? "The Whole Love" suggests the answer to both questions is "Yes!"