Popular indie-folk duo Wye Oak are fresh off successful performances at Coachella and are about to head off on a U.S tour in support of their latest album Shriek. Vocalist Jenn Wasner takes some time to have a chat with Larry about Coachella, the new album, and the upcoming tour. Check out our transcript below:
Hi Jenn, it’s Larry from the AU Review, How are you going??
I’m doing great, how are you?
I’m very well thank you, where abouts are you at the moment?
I am in beautiful sunny Los Angeles, California and glad to be here I got to say
You are in that little in between weekends of Coachella?
That’s right, I have to say, It’s really nice to have to be in L.A right now. I have no choice, and its great!
Freakishly enough i think its snowing in Baltimore right now? It’s been a really terrible winter, but it’s lovely and warm here so I’m thankful that I am here.
You hear all these things about L.A and there are certain aspects of the city but when you get that weather, you go, “oh, I know why people move here!”
I love it, i absolutely love it. Obviously there are things about L.A that people hate but they can totally be avoided. Hanging out in an amazing place with amazing weather and amazing foliage, There are great people here and great food; I don’t see what’s not to love.
I completely agree. Is it a place you get to often? I see with your tour schedule you are doing mostly the other coast.
I think we are going to split our tour into big chunks but we get to L.A fairly regularly and I have spent some time here just for fun. I am happy to be here.
How was your experience at Coachella on the first weekend?
We had a good time. My personality isn’t really in line with the music festival experience to be honest. I’m a little bit, well its a little bit extreme for me. In spite of that I had a really nice time and really enjoyed seeing Outkast; That was a real highlight for me as I am a huge fan.
Our show went great, the audience were great even though we were on early in the day, they were really welcoming and we had a lot of people there, so I have no complaints, it went as well as could be expected
Did you get a chance to play new tracks of the new record?
Yeah, we played most of the new record. The Coachella festival set is shorter then normal but it was a mix of old and new!
It is a short set, but hopefully more people discover you there and get to know your material and come see you when you come back out.
I hope so, that sounds like a good idea.
So lets talk about the record, it comes out in Australia in a few weeks as it does the rest of the world, When did you start working on this one?
I think when we decided to make a record again, we were living away from each, so it became part of the writing process. We both had studios set up in our respected homes and were able to play around independently and send them back and forth.
It really resulted in a stronger batch of songs in my opinion. I was a really great experience. I took a few months to write and few months to record; so about a year.
You said you had to send things back and forth, was there ever a time you both sat in the same room and worked?
Yeah we absolutely did, we wanted to have a set of blueprint in place for what we were going to do. So we had all these demos that led into stronger recordings. We put a lot of effort into them so when we went into the studio
we got to do things quickly and do it well. We had a template and we used our time as well as possible.
I’ve had the pleasure of listening to the record and there are some outstanding tracks on there. Going from “The Tower” to “I Know the Law”, there is so much variety. Do you feel its your best work?
I really do think it’s our best work, I am really proud of it and cant wait to get it out there. I feel confident that people who like our work in the past will like this
Looking ahead you have got tour about to start in May, then you are off to Europe.
We are going to do the eastern part of the US, then head to Europe and then come back and do the western part of the US, from there who knows?
Australia?
I hope so! I want someone to make us take that long long trip!
Well there is only two of you so its much more easy then say an 11 piece band!
I know right. We are the economical choice.
So when performing live is it just the two of you on stage or is there anybody extra?
Just the two of us!
Is that something you always have or would you one day like to have extra people to fill out more?
I think it’s an integral part of our band and always has been. If we added members even to our live shows, the fact we can create and control this together I think would just add extra weight. So I feel like its not entirely necessary to be honest
I am getting to see you in Toronto in a few weeks so I am looking forward to that
Please come say hi!
I will, hopefully it is not as cold
Oh I think even Toronto will be warmer then Baltimore is right now!
Well thank you very much for your time and I look forward to catching up in Toronto
Yeah for sure, sounds great. Thanks very much too.
Shriek is out April 29 through Merge Records
