Wye Oak mature with new album "Civilian;" debut new video
"We kept all options. We just piled it on because we could."
That's Wye Oak's Jenn Wasner describing their last album, "The Knot."
After working independently for years, Wasner and Andy Stack got a chance to make that album with all the time and resources that brand-new label representation allowed them. They had just been signed to Merge Records in 2008.
But the financial freedom actually worked against them, Wasner says, and the album was "overdone" and "less sculpted" than "If Children."
In a story in tomorrow's paper, online already, Wasner talks about how their new album, "Civilian," came together last year.
She says it finds them at a new level of maturity.
Its best tracks ("We Were Wealth," "Holy Holy," "Hot as Day") are the opposite of the sometimes indulgent, five-minute songs in "The Knot:" they are pared down where the others were overdone; immediate instead of meandering; poignant, rather than just lush.
Below is "Fish," the album's first video:
Erik Maza is a features reporter at the Baltimore Sun. He writes for several sections of the Sun paper and contributes weekly columns on music and nightlife. He also writes and edits the Midnight Sun blog. He often covers entertainment, business, and the business of entertainment. Occasionally, he writes about Four Loko, The Block, the liquor board, and those who practice "
Comments
Awesome video. If you're a fan of the band make sure to be listening to 89.7 WTMD all next week. We'll be featuring Civilian as our CD of the Week and playing every track. Happy record hunting this weekend everyone.
Posted by: Tyler | April 15, 2011 9:53 AM