Wye Oak @ Black Bear Lodge Review

It’s Sunday night, 11 January 2015 and Baltimore duo Wye Oak are appearing in Brisbane at Black Bear Lodge for the last show of their first ever Australian tour.

There are few more daunting tasks for a Brisbane support band than to try and pull a crowd on a Sunday night, yet this is the unenviable task for local darlings Major Leagues.

Their set is a combination of two sounds; catchy, slightly ironic, surf pop (accompanied by the slacker vocals of Anna Davidson), contrasted by more character-driven and building numbers from vocalist Jaimee Fryer. It is these duelling personalities that make the band both uniquely appealing yet a little hard to grasp.

Major Leagues - Image © Christian Duell

And while the set explores glorious heights at both the pop and brooding ends of the spectrum, overall it’s a disjointed experience that doesn't quite build momentum either way. Regardless, there is enough melody and depth to imagine exciting things from these guys ahead.

Wye Oak’s lead vocalist and songwriter Jenn Wasner has spoken openly about her fears in releasing 2014’s synthesizer-heavy ‘Shriek’ given its drastic sonic departure from 2011’s highly-lauded guitar-driven release, ‘Civilian’.

I arrived tonight with modest expectations and curious to see how the new mix of synthesizers and samples would find a place amongst the Wye Oak legacy of squealing guitars and driving rhythms.

A small, but dense crowd huddles around the Black Bear Lodge stage as the two halves of Wye Oak – Wasner and drummer Andy Stack – appear onstage, awkwardly sound-checking in front of the eager crowd. Moments later they kick-off with the first track from their new album ‘Before’, followed by two more songs from ‘Shriek’ including the title track.

Wye Oak - Image © Christian Duell

Wasner endearingly wobbles her head in perfect synchronicity to the syncopated beats of the new tracks, and I’m suddenly aware of the complexity and effort required to perform these seemingly simple creations. Stack’s curly quiff creates a steady silhouette in the low light, as he deeply concentrates on drumming with one hand and activating sequencers and synthesizers with the other.

Meanwhile, Wasner produces light and bright vocal melodies as she alternates between playing bass and keys. It’s interesting to watch all of this activity but the new songs pass by all too politely, yearning for some kind of wild interruption.

As Wasner thanks Major Leagues for loaning her an extra guitar, the set suddenly comes alive with a penetrating version of ‘Holy Holy’ from ‘Civilian’. From here the set unravels in a struggle between the old electric, and the new synthetic personas of Wye Oak.

The synthetic mode reflects the colour of Bachelorette with the droning of Austra, while the electric mode presents shades of Anna Calvi and even The Pretenders. Current single ‘Glory’ is a standout, but it really is during the guitar numbers that the band find their voice. Wasner is a ballistic guitar player and without the distractions of technology her attitude and earnestness is unavoidable and enlivening.

Jenn Wasner - Image © Christian Duell

In contrast to the dark tones evident in her songwriting, Wasner is a friendly figure on stage, relishing the size of the venue and the opportunity to connect with the audience. She recounts an amusing altercation with Brisbane Airport customs who, at the oversize baggage claim, mistake her for a local mum insisting on giving her a baby carseat rather than her intended keyboard.

In the back and forth between old and new, electric and synthetic, the band finally settle into a comfortable rhythm amongst the appreciative audience. Not surprisingly, their last two songs are their best, with Stack picking up a second drum stick for ‘I Know The Law’, delivering a perfect hybrid of the raw and natural intensity they are known for, combined with the beauty and refinement of their new sound.

As Wasner celebrates the band’s first visit to Australia and laments to having to “go home to a snow storm”, the band end with the final track from ‘Shriek’, ‘Logic Of Colour’. This is the most genuine performance from the new album, and in closing we get a glimpse of Wye Oak making the most of the wide and new sonic fields ahead of them.

Written by Christian Duell