Shriek
*Rolling Stone* magazine noted that Baltimore is “becoming our nation’s hub for soft-focus synth pop,” citing groups such as Future Islands, Beach House, and Wye Oak as prime examples. This might come as a surprise to fans who remember Wye Oak from their previous album, 2011’s *Civilian*, where they kept themselves rooted in tradition with guitars that gave them a yin-yang of folk and shoegaze textures. But with 2014’s *Shriek*, the duo of singer Jenn Wasner and keyboardist/drummer Andy Stack have tossed the six-strings for full-time synths, and the pop aspect is just a natural output when melodies are as light as the ones heard on the title track. “The Tower” works with a fighting rhythm, but “Glory” surrenders to the automation that makes electronics work. Wasner’s vocals are the true standout here. Her flexible approach turns the usual arpeggiated arrangements behind “Sick Talk,” “Despicable Animal,” and “Paradise” into a world of goth, pop, and diva worship all into one.
On the Baltimore/Portland duo Wye Oak’s fourth album, Shriek, Jenn Wasner replaces her guitar with bass and drummer Andy Stack adds synthesizers to his plate. Wasner's voice also takes up more space on the record; she sings more confidently, and with a broader range.
Wye Oak is selling its guitars and buying synthesizers. So goes the pre-release chatter surrounding Shriek, the fourth LP from the duo of vocalist-guitarist Jenn Wasner and drummer Andy Stack—but Internet talking points and online headlines are only the beginning of Shriek’s story. The album still documents the…
Not what we’ve come to expect from a Wye Oak record perhaps, but the sound of a band who’ve come on leaps and bounds nonetheless.
Three years later and they have made ‘Shriek’, their fourth album, while living on different sides of America; Stack moved to California, while Wasner remained in Maryland to work on her electro-pop side-project Dungeonesse, with the prolific multi-instrumentalist Jon Ehrens.
The life of a professional musician is full of paradoxes, but the cruelest is this: Being happy doesn't always result in good songs.
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In which the Baltimore duo continue to defy lazy labelling. Shriek, their fourth album, carries on where 2011’s much-lauded Civilian left off, further rationalising their edgy palette and sharpening their song craft.
Wye Oak fans who were on board with Jenn Wasner's Dungeonesse project from last year—on which she tackled '80s and '90s R&B and pop tropes with a clear love for the form—may not have realized its prescience.
Wye Oak have swapped indie-folk for electronic pop on their new album, but they don't quite have the songs to match the sound, writes <strong>Dave Simpson</strong>
[xrr rating=3.0/5]Wye Oak eases into Shriek with the dreamy track, “Before.”