Search - Wye Oak :: If Children

Music from an alternate universe?

RockerDad | Renton, WA USA | 02/16/2009

(3 out of 5 stars)

"If Children is a peculiar album. I had not heard the music of Wye Oak before this, and after listening to the album several times, I still have a difficult time wrapping my head around these songs. The first striking thing about Wye Oak are the vocals of Jenn Wasner-she could be the long lost Deal triplet sister. Her voice bears an uncanny resemblance to those of Kim and Kelly Deal of the Breeders. Please Concrete, the album opener, even sounds like it could be an outtake from Mountain Battles or Pod, bursting into a noisy guitar-squall of a solo out of the blue a couple minutes in. Warning, the second song, is easily the album highlight. Filled with feedback and propulsive rhythms, it recalls Yo La Tengo at their shoegazier moments. Archaic Smile is haunting and eerie. Family glue, like many songs on the album, maintains a sense of melancholy throughout. The song starts of like a breezy autumnal tune, then when the violin comes in, it veers off into an unsettling place. Orchard Fair is a nice, gently rocking tune that sound quite like Viva Voce or Earlimart. On Keeping Company, the falsetto vocals and piano accompaniment create at an atmosphere of a fever dream. Not quite psychedelic, not truly surreal, but unsettling-there is a sense of foreboding, it's familiar yet unknown. From here, the last few songs on the album start to drag the whole album down a bit from here, each is extremely somber. It's almost like the band has pasted two very different ep's together to create an album. All in all, a strange album-not easy to dismiss, yet difficult to understand. I think it's an album that certainly could appeal to a small audience that will cherish it as something unique and special. Certainly fans of Viva Voce, Yo La Tengo, the Breeders, Earlimart should check it out."

Pretty good, second album is better

Jacob Dink | Maryland | 01/15/2010

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This is a good first effort, but it all really comes together on their second album. It is indeed a very somber effort, though I disagree with the reviewer above-- I think the last tracks are the best ones, including the excellent song "I Don't Feel Young," which is one of my favorite songs ever."