The Baltimore duo Wye Oak will sneak up on you. On paper, it might look like an indie-rock cliche: male/female outfit, she plays guitar and sings, he plays the drums. They write sad rock songs, blah blah blah; you know the rest.
But wait. The cliche stops there. Wye Oak is a busy band. Busy in the sense that Jenn Wasner plays guitar and sings while Andy Stack hits the drums using his right arm, plays keyboard using his left and has a Vocoder in his mouth. Oh, and he's also manipulating loops.
"The first couple shows we played, people didn't even realize that [Stack] was playing bass, keyboards and drums," Wasner says.
The sophomore album from the duo, called The Knot, has a wider, more advanced sound. The band blends shoegazer pop and Americana with slow and quiet moments, interjected with bursts of distortion. Wye Oak recently stopped by KUT's Studio 1A for a session.
Listen to the previous Favorite Session, or see our full archive.
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