Wye Oak : eMusic pick / Appearing in Albany!

There is something fragile, yet so muscular about Wye Oak’s debut album If Children.

Jenn Wasner’s vocals are plaintive, honest and simple to the point where I want to listen until I am able to figure out every lyric. It’s a beckoning tone and when she sings “I am family glue, leaving a legacy of ‘tell me to’” you just NEED to know what she’s singing about. Over the eleven songs on the album, this duo from Baltimore, MD takes listeners through all kinds of different feelings and situations. Many highlights include the 16-bar blast of musical noise that happens in the middle of album opener “Please Concrete“, the multitudes of winsome overdubbed strings on the aforementioned “Family Glue“, the bounce and squawk of “Warning“, and the percussion on “Keeping Company“. Preview some of these songs at the audio page on their website.

Wye Oak will perform this Saturday, May 3rd at Valentine’s in Albany, NY on a CRAZY bill put on by Sgt. Dunbar and the Hobo Banned featuring sets by Audrey Ryan, Brown Bird, and Bernice Marie. Show starts at 8PM and costs $5 or $7 depending on who you ask.

If you’d like to try out this album, and check out my preferred music download service, eMusic, click this link right here to receive 25 free mp3s during their free trial period. (I recently became an eMusic affiliate because I believe in the service that much!). I will be attempting to recommend some good finds on there that are worth spending a few monthly downloads on. Please feel free to comment or send me an email if you have any questions about eMusic — I’d be glad to answer from the perspective of someone who has been a member for over two years.