Somewhere between what might happen if Autolux went folk and Heartless Bastards went shoegaze, there’s Wye Oak. In a live setting, Andy Stack keeps every fiber of his being busy — manning drums and keyboard simultaneously — while Jenn Wosner guides the songs with dusky vocals and guitar work that’s commanding but never showy. An overachieving enigma of a band, the Baltimore duo gets more from their 20 combined fingers than most bands manage from a whole gang of digits, able to pull off everything from aching country feedback to tidal wave-sized rock-outs, often in the span of a single song. Their performance at the Merge Records showcase at South by Southwest was a highlight, and here’s hoping the band’s recent appearance on
Fallon helped earn them the larger audience they deserve. It’d be less than smart to miss catching them in such an intimate venue.
— Steve Haruch