Artist Wye Oak

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Wye Oak

Baltimore indie-folk duo Wye Oak is a blend of Southern culture and Northern sensibilities—and its sound is surprisingly self-assured. If Children, Andy Stack and Jenn Wasner’s 2008 debut, feels like a primer in indie rock: Recorded in friends’ studios, apartments, and basements, the album swirls together soft psychedelia-pop, atmospheric shoegaze, and alt-folk. The band quickly followed it up with 2009’s The Knot, which ties all that swooning to the rise and fall of various romantic partnerships. In a Yo La Tengo-esque male-female musical partnership, the pair creates full-sounding songs so delicately layered that they seem the product of more than two people.

Updated 12/14/2009