Wye Oak & Shearwater Join Forces at Bowery Ballroom
Prior to their closing number, Baltimore duo Wye Oak had played an impressive set on Saturday night at Bowery Ballroom. Jenn Wasner's guitar riffs seemed to have grown even larger since the time I had seen them in December, and their presence in general had become that of a first rate indie headliner. Then they brought Shearwater's Jonathan Meiburg to the stage to play a cover. The combination of Wye Oak and Shearwater covering just about any song would have worked for me at that point, but their choice of The Kinks' "Strangers" really reached into my chest and worked itself into a special place in my heart. Of all the songs in the world, "Strangers" sits very high among my favorites, and Wye Oak executed the cover exceptionally well with Meiburg providing additional guitar and backing vocals too Jenn Wasner's lead.
With 2 albums and a new ep to their credit, Wye Oak is quickly becoming one of the most exciting bands to come around in a while and one of Merge's greatest treasures. Even with Shearwater in the headline position, Wye Oak's performance was that of a band in a headline role, focused and ready for the spotlight. On most songs Andy Stack pulled double duty playing drums with his right hand and keyboard with his left. An impressive feat no matter how you look at it, even with one hand devoted to keyboards Stack's drumming is much more interesting than a majority of drummers I've seen. The band's biggest growth has come with Wasner's guitar playing. Wye Oak's 2009 sophomore record, The Knot saw them breaking out into a more guitar heavy band, and on stage at the Bowery Ballroom on Saturday night Wasner's displayed a furious command of her guitar on songs like "For Prayer" and "Take It In." The highlight of their set came with new song "I Hope You Die" thanks to Wasner's lovely vocals.
Speaking of lovely vocals, Shearwater headlined. Following an act like Wye Oak isn't easy but with a voice like Jonathan Meiburg's greatness is pretty much inescapable. At one point the sideman to Okkervil River's Will Sheff, Meiburg's voice is too overwhelmingly powerful to sit in the background. Like the voice of God commanding a room of music geeks, his voice sent chills down my spine throughout the entirety of the set. It's the type of voice so mesmerizing you can feel you eyes tear up and can find it hard to focus on anything else. But to only focus on his voice would be a shame, because Shearwater's songs are such exceptional compositions in themselves, and the performance of the entire band was incredible especially long-haired percussionist Thor Harris, who was treated as the star of the night by the devoted fans. The heavier rock songs like "Castaways" and "Black Eyes" were the biggest hits of the night.
It's rare that you get to see two bands as good as Shearwater and Wye Oak on the same non-festival bill. Both bands continue to get better and better with every record, so the future looks very bright for both of them.
