Listen, right off the bat: I'm not going to hold your hand during this review. That being said, I understand your plight as a reader. I myself am an incredibly slow reader. That's not to say that I don't like to read, quite the contrary. I try to crack out a few books a month just because I can't get enough of them. But I can never really get into them unless I re-read the previous sentence multiple times. That's just how it is for me; it just takes reexamining the material in order to appreciate it.
Baltimore duo Wye Oak's Civilian comes out March 8, and is their third album (they have two previous LPs and one EP). They set the scene well with their first song "Two Small Deaths" fading from what sounds like a basement concert to ambient guitar strumming and complimenting percussion.
Following the intro, the album continues to pull from great sources, namely "Dogs' Eyes," which displays a unique twist on the raw bi-polarism of Modest Mouse, while still making it their own. And there is nothing more that I love than a beautiful woman who can keep up with Issac Brock's sour guitar notes -- I love me some sour guitar notes. And when need be, she can blast a beautiful harmonic voice that lulls your eyes in to the back of your skull (listen to the track "Fish"). Then it slowly degrades towards the end with all too Beach House-inspired vocals, leading to an incredible anticlimax.
Although, that was just the first listen. Okay, fine, I may have tugged you across the street with that one, but you get the point. A few more listens and you will definitely see what this album is worth as a whole. Some albums, like books, just sell it to me the first time around. This record is not the case. Then again, I'd have to look at that last sentence one more time.
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