Albums

Wye Oak - My Neighbour/My Creator

Mike Mantin 22/03/2010

Rating: 4/5

Though Wye Oak's stunning 2009 album The Knot may still be creeping its way into music fans' consciousness, they've made no delay in unveiling yet more songs to fall in love with. My Neighbour/My Creator continues the understated and timeless indie-rock sound perfected on last year's LP and its sunnier predecessor If Children. If you get excited by the deceptively shy likes of Yo La Tengo, you pretty much have a new favourite band.

But even with its quick turnaround time, it still sounds like a step forward. This is their first release not produced themselves, and sonically there's a lot more variation going on, even with only five tracks to play with. I Hope You Die replaces their usual distorted guitars with keyboards. And there's no roaring guitar solo, just a saxophone buried under the layers.

Elsewhere My Neighbour and Emmylou (not the country-tinged tribute you might be expecting) are fully-formed, joyous indie-rock jams whilst the Mickey Free remix of Knot cut That I Do adds sirens and a rap, offering a bewildering alternative to the dirgey original. It's all over in just over quarter of an hour, and you're left salivating for more. At their current workrate the next installment of slow-burning classics will be just around the corner, but I'm getting impatient already.