Introducing: Wye Oak

25 December 2008, 10:00 | Written by Rich Hughes

(Tracks)

We like Wye Oak. They’ve been wooing the TLOBF staff from the very first play of their great debut album (review here). It moved one of our writers to compare them to The Delgado’s, which instantly clicked with me. Their wonderfully vivid songs are all carefully orchestrated to create a fuzzy blanket of song in which to immerse yourself. We caught up with the band to find out a bit more about them.

For people out there that have never heard of you. Give us three reasons why they should…
1) We’re unattractive.
2) We’re untalented.
3) We try to diffuse questions by making jokes.

Can you recall the moment when you first decided you wanted to become a musician?
Probably at three years of age or earlier…singing harmonies with my mom while she gave me a bath.

Where do your songs come from? What’s your inspiration?
Who knows? I try to write honest songs. They’re usually inspired by whatever is gnawing at me at the time.

Name your Top 5 records.
This is impossible! I hate lists. I love everything I love too passionately to pare it all down.

What was the first gig you ever played and was it a success?
Ever? Hm…probably in Baltimore with my first high school band when I was about 15. It probably wasn’t much of a success, but you wouldn’t know it from the glowing rush of euphoria it gave me at the time.

What one piece of criticism has stuck in your mind and was it justified?
I’ve learned the hard way that it’s a bad idea to read your own criticism. It’s not meant for you, and it’s unnatural. With that said, it’s hard to resist. As a compromise, I agree to let it completely fade from my awareness immediately afterwards…which isn’t usually difficult, because most criticism tends to blur into one big banal regurgitation of ideas. So, to answer your question…I have no answer.

What one thing has caused you to waste your free time in the past 6 months?
I haven’t really had much free time in the past 6 months! But probably drugs.

If you weren’t making music, what do you think you’d be doing?
I’d almost certainly still be in college, and probably completely aimless. (I’m pretty happy with the way the situation has turned out!)

What’s the worst job you’ve ever had?
Working at a diner when I was 16.

We’d like you to make us a mix-tape. Pick five tracks with a theme of your choice.
Most popular songs on my ipod at this particular moment, Vol. 1
Pontiak- Dome Under The Sky
Shearwater- Century Eyes
M83- Kim & Jessie
Karl Blau- Megadose
Lil Wayne- You Ain’t Got Nuthin’