Wilco's seventh disc, Wilco (the album), took shape quickly in January '09 after the band traveled to Auckland, New Zealand to participate in an Oxfam International benefit project. The band began cutting tracks for the new album, producing it themselves with the help of engineer Jim Scott. The sextet completed the disc at its Chicago studio and performed some of the new material in April at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival; where the Times-Picayune praised the band's 'thrilling, nuanced set.' Wilco (the album) combines the intimacy of its previous studio disc, Sky Blue Sky (2007), with the experimentation of A Ghost Is Born (2004) in a set that boasts strong melodies and gorgeous, often unabashedly pop arrangements.