#21

God I love this band. Not a dud in their discography.

#22

Sorry, I was talking solely about the latest album.

#23

Apologies I didn’t read your post correctly. I didn’t realise you were talking about If Children.

They certainly seem like a band that’s able to effortlessly change how they do things from album to album.

They kind of remind me a bit of Virginia Wing who’ve had a similar stylistic arc, from solely guitar based pop to electronic / dancey pop.

#24

Listening to this now. Sounds like a more confident version of Shriek (which I liked, but struck me as them very deliberately stepping outside of their “comfort zone”^).

What are people’s views on Tween? Took me a while to get into; I think I remember being a bit disappointed at first. Simply, in retrospective, because of what it openly is as a selection of pre-Shriek experiments / etc. ‘No Dreaming’ is one of my all-time favourite Wye Oak songs now though.

^“comfort zone” being in quotes because they still sounded like one of the most interesting rock bands going; Wasner’s guitar playing always reminds me of that Kevin Shields quote (which I can’t find, and which may not exist) about guitarists who can get mileage simply out of paying attention to how loud/quiet, strong/soft they’re playing (this may make no sense)

#25

Agreed, this is a superb record. The mid-album run from Lifer through to Over and Over is utterly sublime. For some unknown reason they’re a band that haven’t interested me very much before, so I suppose I’ll have to revist their previous releases. I don’t recall them sounding much like this though…

#26

It’s more the quality of production has advanced significantly.

I think the first few albums they solely produced, and then had quite a tight grip on Shreik…but have completely handed over the responsibilities with the latest album, hence the radically different sound.

#27

Lifer is on and endless loop in my head today. perfect song.

3 Likes
#28

This is my favorite indie-rock album in the last couple of years

1 Like
#29

the last three tracks are so gorgeous. not sure i could pick between that trio or songs 3-5. Luckily I dont have to chose. they both work for different moods.

3 Likes