Monday, June 16, 2014

Wye Oak - Shriek (Merge, 2014)

Wye Oak
Shriek
Merge
2014

Rating: 7.5 savage balls out of 10

What do you do if you're a two-piece band with a front woman that is a shredder on guitar?  You make an album heavy in keyboards and nearly devoid of guitar, obviously.  Don't read that as my saying their new Wye Oak record "Shriek" isn't good - far from it - but it's a really damn confusing turn they've taken.  I mean, shit like Lykki Li and Future Islands and Rhye are really popular these days, so why not give it a shot?  Wye Oak are a little mellower, maybe even "jazzier" than those acts, but this sounds a hell of a lot more like those bands than it does like old Wye Oak records.  I'm known to act like a petulant child and whine when bands I like drastically change their sound, but it works here. 

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