If Wye Oak have accomplished nothing else with The Knot,
they’ve succeeded in getting out from under the shadow of
Yo La Tengo. Between the fact that the Baltimore duo
comprises a couple that fluidly swaps out the singing, writing
and playing chores, and their penchant for spiking the
pensive tunes on their vigorously feted but middling debut If
Children with big blasts of guitar noise, it seemed like every
other review compared the record to Hoboken’s finest.
Jen Wasner does plenty with her guitar on The Knot, but
obstreperous six-string explosions are in short supply. Her
cranked-up contributions are mixed well down, adding a bit of
necessary grit beneath “Tattoo’s” airy harmonies and sparkly
piano, or quite momentary, like the power chords that
punctuate “Talking About Money’s” martial progression.
Elsewhere her playing is more textural or chugs along in
Crazy Horse rhythm mode. The instrumental leads are
mainly given to pedal steel and violin, which might have their
share of genre associations, but in Wasner and Andy
Stack’s hands tend not to have the sonic specificity that
earned those YLT comparisons. One of the impressive things
about Wye Oak is their ability to sound convincing playing
these and other instruments; they aren’t particularly flashy,
but they never sound like dabblers either.
But the real growth is in Wasner’s singing. She and Stack
harmonize to lackluster effect on the opener “Milk and
Honey,” but on the next song she takes over and never really
lets go. Which isn’t to say that she’s showboating; part of
her power comes from the impression she conveys that
she’s holding something back. Tinged with hope and regret,
Wasner’s voice is an instrument well suited to the album’s
lyrics, which track various relationship dynamics and the
singer’s affective response to them. It’s well-mapped territory
to be sure, but the trek doesn’t get tiring. If anything, The
Knot turns the cliché about sophomore slumps on its head
by being much stronger than If Children.
Review by: Bill Meyer
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