Wilco Releases Surprise New Album for Free

Who needs pre-album release press? Wilco decided that it was time to drop its ninth studio album to the surprise of just about everyone that doesn't know the secrets of the Grammy Award-winning band. The new album is entitled Star Wars, so here's hoping George Lucas doesn't try to change random parts of it in the future.

The 11-song, 33-minute long album has Wilco exploring a spacier (pun lightly intended) rock vibe, which is certainly a welcome thing when you have a guitarist as great as Nels Cline (who is coming to Erie, by the way) in your crew.

Not that it really matters what we want, really. As one of those rare bands that have managed to enjoy both creative freedom and commercial success, Wilco certainly has the freedom to do what they want. Really, we should be pretty pleased that the band even decided to release its first album since 2011's excellent The Whole Love. According to a message frontman Jeff Tweedy wrote on Wilco's Instagram, it wasn't all that hard of a decision.

"Why release an album this way and why make it free? Well, the biggest reason, and I'm not sure we even need any others, is that it felt like it would be fun," Tweedy wrote. "What's more fun than a surprise?"

The man has a good point. But wait, there's more! Not only is Star Wars now out and available for the public, you can even download it for free. Digital downloads will be available until Aug. 13, and the album can already be found on Spotify, Apple Music, and Rdio. Thanks, Wilco! Plus, there's the full stream on YouTube embedded below, if that's your preferred method of Wilco listening. Happy Friday, everyone!

Alex Bieler can be reached at aBieler@eriereader.com. You can also follow him on Twitter at @Catch20Q.