Wye Oak

A fresh faced indie band of two, out of Baltimore - Wye Oak never ceases to amaze me. Into their third full length LP (Civilian, due out later this March). Jenn Wasner's voice, between her raspy intonations and more adventurous moments keep you riveted - and Andy Stack's compositions are every bit imaginative - they create a sound which is laden with mystery, with bursts of colour and full-blooded enough to make you forget it's just two people making it.

I had managed to chance first upon their last album 'Knots' - which despite its weakness had it's moments. Cold, cruel lines in the song 'Take It In' like - "I turn to smoke when you need air, I'm sorry baby, I don't care" haunt you long after you have heard them. At times they are decidedly frank in the 'Civilian'- " I don't think I need another friend, when most of them I can barely keep up with them".

There is no objective two-way about Wye Oak - I love their a-little-rough-around-the-edges music, and honest lyrics...

And they only promise to become better.

'The National' obsession

 

 

For a band which is made up of 2 pairs of brothers (Dessners and the Devendorfs) and a baritone (Matt Berninger) - there is something supremely efficient about The National's sound...like old hand mafiosos who go about their Sunday vendetta without a fuss, and still manage to turn up for church.

A bitter dose of confessional alternative to drown with your coffee, The National is not for everyone. Definitely not for everyone's Ipods. 

Halfway through High Violet - their 2010 album, "Sorrow" is National at its best - casting emotion as company, and pulling it off with style. Revelling in its confusion and sad bastard lyrics about love and life, National somehow manages to make sweet music out of all of it. If not poetry and occasional sense out of all of this...

Few bands make confusion sound grand. The National do. 

For their discography: http://www.americanmary.com/sound.php