Wye Oak – “The Louder I Call, The Faster It Runs”
It’s been almost four years since Wye Oak’s glistening, dreamy fourth album Shriek, one of our favorite releases of 2014. In that time, Jenn Wasner and Andy Stack have kept busy enough: The duo toured consistently and released the mini-album Tween (a collection of material from between 2011’s Civilian and Shriek) in 2016, and Wasner offered up her full-length debut as Flock Of Dimes, another underrated 2016 outing called If You See Me, Say Yes. Even so: Wye Oak features one of the best voices in indie these days and has written consistently excellent songs throughout their shape-shifting career, so it has felt like a long four years since their last full-fledged album. Thankfully, that wait is about to end. Today, the band announced that their fifth LP, The Louder I Call, The Faster It Runs, will arrive this spring.
Crafted in bursts in Durham, North Carolina and Marfa, Texas — Wasner and Stack’s respective post-Baltimore adopted hometowns — the album is described as confronting a “litany of modern malaises, each of its dozen tracks diligently addressing a new conflict … the song’s subject and shape inextricably and ingeniously linked.” The band also shared our first preview of the album via its title track. “The Louder I Call, The Faster It Runs” builds on the oscillating, celestial synth patterns of Shriek, but floats into a chorus punctured by squelching, distorted guitar and Wasner intoning the song’s title. For those who are (somehow) still irked by Wye Oak’s move away from guitar-based rock on Shriek, “The Louder I Call…” might mark a welcome return, the new chapter suggested by Tween’s hybrid of Wye Oak’s different personalities two years ago. Either way, it’s predictably as gorgeous and, yes, ethereal as all of Wye Oak’s other work. Check it out below.
TRACKLIST:
01. “(tuning)”
02. “The Instrument”
03. “The Louder I Call, The Faster It Runs”
04. “Lifer”
05. “It Was Not Natural”
06. “Symmetry”
07. “My Signal”
08. “Say Hello”
09. “Over And Over”
10. “You Of All People”
11. “Join”
12. “I Know It’s Real”
TOUR DATES:
02/16 — New York, NY @ Symphony Space (Shriek suite with William Brittelle & Metropolis Ensemble)
04/06 — Iowa City, IA @ Mission Creek Festival
04/20 — Amsterdam, NL @ Paradiso Noord
04/21 — Rotterdam, NL @ Motel Mozaique Festival
04/22 — Luxembourg, LU @ De Gudde Wellen
04/25 — Berlin, DE @ BiNuu
04/26 — Prague, CZ @ MeetFactory
04/27 — Vienna, AT @ Fluc
04/29 — Zurich, CH @ Bogen F
05/01 — Brussels, BE @ Les Nuits Botanique @ Rotonde
05/02 — Paris, FR @ Le Pop Up
05/03 — London, UK @ Village Underground
05/04 — Manchester, UK @ The Deaf Institue
05/05 — Liverpool, UK @ Liverpool Sound City
05/06 — Dublin, IE @ Whelan’s
05/09 — Asheville, NC @ Grey Eagle
05/10 — Carrboro, NC @ Cat’s Cradle
05/11 — Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club
05/13 — Cambridge, MA @ The Sinclair
05/14 — Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer
05/15 — Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Steel
05/17 — Chicago, IL @ Thalia Hall
05/18 — Milwaukee, WI @ The Back Room at Colectivo
05/19 — St. Paul, MN @ Turf Club
05/20 — Omaha, NE @ The Waiting Room
05/21 — Kansas City, MO @ Record Bar
05/23 — Denver, CO @ Bluebird Theater
05/25 — St. Louis, MO @ Ready Room
05/26 — Louisville, KY @ Zanzabar
07/13 — Portland, OR @ Revolution Hall
07/15 — Seattle, WA @ Neumos
07/17 — San Francisco, CA @ The Independent
07/18 — Oakland, CA @ Starline Social Club
07/19 — Los Angeles, CA @ Lodge Room
The Louder I Call, The Faster It Runs is out 4/6 via Merge. Pre-order it here.
