The Louder I Call, The Faster It Runs

The Louder I Call, The Faster It Runs is a symphony in freedom, and a potent testament to Wye Oak’s ambition moving forwards, the possibilities for this band are limitless.

Fifth album The Louder I Call, The Faster It Runs doesn’t have the dramatic sense of change of its predecessor, but it is a fascinating album that may even ultimately prove to have more to offer. It’s one of those albums that grows with each listen.

The richness of the music occasions her best vocal performances to date. The arrangements are airy with distance and light, but their architecture is boldly drawn: the basslines thick and taut, the arpeggios whirring and spangled, the guitars unfurling in a glossy neon cursive.

“Tween,” a 2016 collection of eight outtakes recorded from 2011-14, revealed paths the band had rejected for “Shriek,” with songs that enfolded electronics in broad strokes of guitar. Now, with “The Louder I Call, the Faster It Runs,” Wye Oak extends that approach to make it nimbler, more intricate and welcoming. There are joyful and sometimes rowdy sonic crosscurrents, even as the lyrics determinedly think things through.

Pound for pound, The Louder I Call is Wye Oak’s brightest, most straightforward effort

The sunlit reflections that Wasner traversed as Flock of Dimes are similarly parsed on The Louder I Call, though Wye Oak is still very much a collaboration between her and Stack. When working together, their push and pull remains an attractive part of their appeal and never more so than on this exciting outing.

TLICTFIR finds Wye Oak reaching new heights of sophistication. [May 2018, p.96]

While "Symmetry" and "Say Hello" seem destined for pole positions on motivational playlists, such displays of ebullience are well balanced with evidence of Wye Oak's more melancholy side. [May 2018, p.37]

Wye Oak’s forward-thinking approach proves they’re miles ahead of their peers in more ways than one, and if they can keep on moving, things are likely to stay that way for some time.

The Louder I Call, the Faster It Runs is arguably Wye Oak’s most assured album: Wasner and Stack perform with a confidence that is almost serene, as if self-doubt weren’t even a possibility

It’s a culmination of just about every texture they’ve explored before, fostered through unmistakable maturity.

While some of the headier experiments fail to rise above their inherent monotony, the results are usually singularly beautiful and beautifully dense.

If anything captures where they are now, it's "Say Hello," melding their distinct talents into something full of compulsion and yearning m, riding breathless vocals and persistence rhythms. [Mar-May 2018, p.63]

The Louder I Call... is another step forward for Wye Oak, a duo who still carry plenty of vision to inject some life into a form of indie rock that you don't hear that often anymore.

It all manages to hang together thanks to the fact that, after some trial and error, Wasner and Stack have hit on a sound all their own.