Wye Oak
The Knot - Merge
FILTER Grade: 76%

Wye Oak’s Andy Stack and Jenn Wasner are not cute and cuddly like Matt & Kim. They fall somewhere in between the gossamer-thin folk soundscapes of Rosebuds' married tandem Ivan Howard and Kelly Crisp or the husband-wife Portland band Viva Voce. On Wye Oak’s sophomore album, The Knot, they keep things in focus after the hazy textures of debut If Children. “For Prayer” brilliantly rages between an alt-country slow burn to a prairie wildfire within seconds. On the equally explosive “Take It In,” Wasner’s powerful Kim Deal-like vocals float over crunching guitars like a pall. On the joyous “Tattoo,” they shoot skyward. The Knot is an iron-willed, albeit reserved, expansion of the duo’s sound. Thankfully guitar feedback is still the duo’s de rigueur instrument during the majority of this home recording. Unfortunately, as loud as these slowcore arrangements are, they sound too habitual in tone and scope.