Wye Oak: Civilian

Wye Oak
Civilian
Merge Records [2011]









Fire Note Says: Third record Civilian evolves Wye Oak's sound and contains an array of sonic highlights that makes it their best record to date!

Album Review:
Wye Oak have started to really hit their stride on third long player Civilian. The duo of Jenn Wasner and Andy Stack take you on a tour of self described aloneness (the positive kind), loneliness (the horrible kind), moving on, and letting go (of people, places, and things) throughout the course of the album's ten tracks. Wye Oak have successfully pulled off the almost impossible, as they have created a record that is both loud and coarse, as well as soft and quiet. This stylistically is not a real change for the band but the sonic impact of Civilian hits completely different then their previous efforts. Every musical piece on Civilian is sharper, crisper and engulfing. The way "Holy Holy" breaks into refrain is a sonic explosion, while every guitar chord from Wasner blares out as meticulously as it is played. Some of this, I suppose, could be the mixing of engineer John Congleton (St. Vincent, Shearwater), as these duties were previously handled by the band. Wye Oak have labeled Civilian as more of 21st-century folk music but the indie rock that slips out in-between, over and around these tracks is a throwback salute to some of the early 90's greats. It is the ability of Wye Oak to pull back, as Wasner delivers a note perfect line but then surround the listener with a gorgeous wall of sound. Each track builds an intensity within itself that typically erupts at some point and never tires on the listener. Civilian is a record that shows true growth and gets better on every spin, which is why it is easily Wye Oak's best record to date!

Key Tracks: "Two Small Deaths", "Civilian", "Holy Holy"

Bands With Similar Fire:
Yo La Tengo
Low
The Spinanes

Wye Oak: The Knot [Fire Note Review 7/30/09]

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Merge Records

-Reviewed by Christopher Anthony