When this side-project first surfaced around the time of Wilco’s game-changing Yankee Hotel Foxtrot a quarter-century ago, I recall some folks looking at me sideways when I told them that I liked the Autumn Defense’s new album more. It probably sounded like a contrarian pose, but I was mostly serious. As Wilco got weirder and more experimental, bassist John Stirratt wanted an outlet for the dreamy folk-pop he was creating with fellow Mississippian Pat Sansone, who eventually got pulled into the Wilco fold as well.
After five albums in their first fourteen years, the Autumn Defense took a decade-long break. Here and Nowhere is a welcome return, and further evidence that the Stirratt/Sansone balance has gradually shifted more toward the latter’s turf over time. Sansone produced this one and wrote five of its songs, compared to four for Stirratt, plus two that they wrote together. Instrumentally, Sansone had a much greater hand in shaping the sound: While Stirratt sticks to acoustic guitar throughout, Sansone plays everything from acoustic and electric guitars to piano and organ to vibraphone and mellotron. Other key contributors include drummer Greg Wieczorek and bassist James Haggerty, plus accents of strings from Matt Combs and woodwinds from Jim Hoke.
