Ah, the instrumental side project, where the "serious" musician in a relatively popular group heads to explore the ideas that are beyond the rest of his bandmates. Humorless, esoteric, unaccomplished, dilettantish-- you know, those kinds of ideas. From a consumer standpoint, such music is generally the domain of completists, fans so devoted to the flagship that they must own every record any member has ever touched.
Thankfully, Wilco fans need not fear Extended Vacation, the fourth LP by On Fillmore, the long-running if infrequent instrumental side project of Wilco drummer Glenn Kotche and upright bassist Darin Gray, formerly of Chicago standouts Brise-Glace. These seven interwoven pieces delight: Accessible but not pedestrian, complex but not esoteric, Extended Vacation feels improvised in spirit, but, in both structure and sound, it reveals two focused, imaginative composers and performers. The melodies and the warped sounds-- a vibraphone blurred into an organ, animal samples sculpted into a symphony, xylophone lines fashioned into music box tunes-- make Extended Vacation the most instantly likable On Fillmore album yet. But the latticework way in which it all comes together-- in pieces that flirt with Tropicália, drone, and Sunday morning jazz on an album that treats the unexpected like its favorite conquest-- likely makes it On Fillmore's most enduring album, too. (The Album) included, it's the only essential Wilco-related release of 2009.
The first On Fillmore LP since 2004's Sleeps with Fishes, Extended Vacation starts with a pun-- the album title. Get it: They're back? Its opening and closing tracks-- "Checking In" and "Clearing Out"-- joke on function, too. Sure, On Fillmore might be instrumental, but they're also a playful band, evidenced by the fun they seem to be having with sound here. While "Master Moon" is guided by Gray's upright bass saunter, it's the circus of music surrounding it-- junk percussion like rattles and shakers, or a wah-wah effect applied generously to a thumb piano-- that supplies the spirit. Or when the bass and drum enter together a minute into "Checking In", Gray and Kotche sound ecstatic, as if they've been waiting five years for this moment.
Though Kotche is only an equal star here, no mention of Extended Vacation would be complete without acknowledging his special place in modern music. Who else in rock bands as popular as Wilco-- these days, smiling on the covers of the biggest music magazines and selling out amphitheaters and arenas on multiple continents-- consistently works with so many boundary-bending projects? Kotche has composed for Kronos Quartet and, last year, wrote new works for the Bang on a Can All-Stars that tapped the folk traditions of the American South. His most recent solo album, 2006's Mobile, mixed the legacies of modern composers with huge chunks of world music. Even on his flagship act's records, Kotche's never been just a drummer. He's been an explorer who refused to be circumscribed by his band's public ascendance. As appealing as it is challenging, Extended Vacation is the sort of album that might even make those Wilco fans who can sing only "Kingpin" believe it.
