Wye Oak-Strangers

Wye Oak is a band that I've discovered because of this blog. The first time I listened to them was when I wrote about their cover of Mother. I love everything about this band and their sound is really amazing. 

On to the cover! I love Wye Oak's version of this song! The vocals of Jenn Wasner are perfect for this song.   I can't seem to find the words to describe her voice. For some reason, I keep coming back to "hauntingly beautiful" so I'll leave it as that for now. Hauntingly beautiful. The guitar solo in the middle of the song is a nice addition as well. It did not take away from the song by being to "flashy" or "loud" in a sense of shoving it in face or in my ears. 

Original: 

Strangers by The Kinks

http://youtu.be/omd1IwCNJj4

Wye Oak- Mother

Mother by Danzig, in my book, is considered a classic. It's one of the few songs I like from him after he left The Misfits. Mother has a definite dark vibe to it but, really, what Danzig doesn't?! Everything Danzig does is dark, menacing, and gothic. I once saw a video of Glen Danzig discussing his book collection and even that is dark, both figuratively and literally.

Anyway, on to the cover. Wye Oak is your typical indie band of today. Their sound is pretty mellow at times but when they get their energy going, they really bring it hard. There are only two members in Wye Oak which is pretty amazing considering the complexity of their songs with the different instruments. In fact, Andy Stack plays the drums, keyboards, and sings backup vocals. Jenn Wasner's is lead vocals and plays the guitar. She kind of reminds me a little of Florence Welch's voice for Florence + The Machine. You may noticed that they do not have a bass player. Well, actually Andy Stack plays the bass notes on his keyboard with his left hand while playing the drums with his feet and right hand! Talk about multitasking!

When I saw that they were covering Mother I was a little put off. Wye Oak's sound is on the opposite side of the the spectrum compared to Danzig. Wye Oak is indie dream pop while Danzig is heavy metal. So you can see why I was extremely skeptical that Wye Oak can pull off this song.

To my surprise, Wye Oak nailed it! They incorporated their own style and still had the dark elements of the original. I also love how they added a tuba to the mix which gave their cover a heavier sound. It did start of slow but as soon as they got into the chorus it began to pick up. Though, I will admit that after a few times listening to it I began to love the crawl of the intro into the chorus. The break after the second chorus is insane! I wanted a kick-ass guitar solo like in the original but after hearing the break, I loved it even more than the solo. The break is definitely a hardcore build up, bringing the song home and pumping up the listener. Like I said earlier, I wasn't really convinced Wye Oak can pull this song off but the proved me wrong.

If you liked this band, Wye Oak has an album released called Civilian. You should definitely check them out. Enjoy!




Original:
Mother by Danzig
http://youtu.be/vgSn0SbQJQI

Bonus Video:
Just for laughs, here's Glen Danzig talking about his book collection :)
http://youtu.be/weNO9k1TXS0