It’s incredible to see a two-person indie band flourish as much as Wye Oak, whose members have used the recording studio to their advantage to make quite a lot of noise on their sophomore album, The Knot. It’s even more incredible to find out this band can make the same amount of noise live in concert and make it sound just as good, without a back-up band. A person may wonder how this is possible, and that is precisely the source of wonderment and passion behind this album.

At first glance, The Knot is a calm, sleepy 10-track album of folk rock, pieced together with guitar and banjo, drums, keyboard bass lines and a sweet female voice suitable for lullabies. But the real passion in this album comes out not only in the lyrics, but in the raw emotion of the songs’ climaxes. These climaxes, featured in most songs on the album, are very well-planned train wrecks of feeling, represented by cymbal crashes, screaming guitars and explosions of feedback.

For example, “For Prayer” starts as a confession, softly sung beside an acoustic guitar. After a short time and the ironic words “you scratch yours, and I’ll scratch mine,” the dreaminess of the song completely shatters, interrupted suddenly by the wave-like crash of guitars and drums. Just as it seems the mood of the song has changed, the vocals begin again, and so does the calm. The noise is covered like a blanket and replaced with a familiar, sweet guitar melody, accompanied by a droning, exhausted keyboard bass-line and a slow simple drum beat. Serene, soft dreaminess once again.

The question: How is all this played on stage with two people? The answer: Andy Stack.

While Jenn Wasner acts as the front-woman, singing and playing guitar, Stack sits back and, using all four limbs to their full potential, plays drums and keyboard at the same time. This may seem impossible, but despite his band-mate’s original skepticism, Stack found the dedication to learn to play drums with both feet and his right arm, while playing keyboard with his left, and to do both well.

This same amount of dedication shows itself in the way that Stack assembles the music of The Knot, making sure every note sounds as beautiful, or as ugly, as possible.

Throughout the album, Stack and Wesner use the famous “wall-of-sound” technique, as well as silence, simplicity and repetition, to evoke true emotion out of their songs. When the slow, somber words “You love me too, but not the way that I do” are obnoxiously interrupted by a car alarm-esque chord, the feeling is like a piano being dropped on someone’s foot; the shock of the contrast in sound conveys the emotion.

Overall, The Knot does not disappoint. No matter how somber, sweet, or sleepy the mood on this album can become, you never know when an eruption of sound may bust through the bedroom window of a potential lullaby. Thought evoking and very powerful, this album can maintain anyone’s interest.

By: Alex Gioeli

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