Skip to content
Premieres

Wye Oak Ditch Guitar for Lead ‘Shriek’ Single ‘The Tower’

wye oak, shriek, the tower

Last year, SPIN visited Wye Oak in the studio while they were working on their fourth album, an LP that marks a drastic shift in the Baltimore-bred duo’s sound. “There’s not a lick of guitar on this whole record,” singer (and, now, bassist) Jenn Wasner said inside Brooklyn’s Rare Book Room Studio, seated alongside fellow member Andy Stack. “It basically inverts what we were responsible for. Andy was playing droney bass lines on keyboard. Now he’s responsible for the more upper register stuff that guitar would normally handle, while I’m playing bass lines on a bass guitar.”

Now, Wye Oak have officially announced the upcoming effort and shared its lead single. The follow-up to 2011’s Civilian is titled Shriek and set to arrive on April 29 via North Carolina super-indie label Merge Records. As promised, first taste “The Tower” doesn’t rely on Wasner’s well-documented six-string prowess — instead, the track pairs her grimy low-end lines with the kinds of percussive synths found on her pop-skewing side-project, Dungeonesse, whose self-titled debut ranked among SPIN’s 20 Best Pop Albums of 2013. For a peek at Shriek, stream “The Tower” via the above visual.

Scroll down for the album’s cover art and track list, followed by a lengthy list of North American tour dates. Pre-orders of Wye Oak’s next LP, which was co-produced by Nicolas Vernhes, are currently available through iTunes and the Merge store.

Shriek track list: 

1. “Before”
2. “Shriek”
3. “The Tower”
4. “Glory”
5. “Sick Talk”
6. “Schools of Eyes”
7. “Despicable Animal”
8. “Paradise”
9. “I Know The Law”
10. “Logic Of Color”

Wye Oak tour dates: 

March 3 – Charlottesville, VA @ The Southern *
March 4 – Asheville, NC @ Orange Peel *
March 5 – Saxapahaw, NC @ Haw River Ballroom *
March 6 – Savannah, GA @ Savannah Stopover
March 7 – Chattanooga, TN @ JJ’s Bohemia *
March 8 – Oxford, MS @ Proud Larry’s *
March 9 – Baton Rouge, LA @ Spanish Moon *
March 20 – London, England @ Lexington
March 21 – Brussels, Belgium @ Botanique
March 23 – Amsterdam, Netherlands @ MC Theater
March 25 – Berlin, Germany @ Privatclub
March 28 – Zurich, Switzerland @ M4M Music Festival
March 29 – Istanbul, Turkey @ IKSV
April 11 – Indio, CA @ Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival
April 18 – Indio, CA @ Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival
May 2 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Mr. Small’s Theatre
May 3 – Lancaster, PA @ Chameleon Club
May 5 – Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer
May 6 – Washington, D.C. @ 9:30 Club
May 7 New York, NY @ Webster Hall
May 9 – Boston, MA @ Paradise Rock Club
May 10 – Montreal, QC @ Il Motore
May 11 – Toronto, ON @ Horseshoe Tavern
May 13 – Chicago, IL @ Metro
May 14 – Milwaukee, WI @ Turner Hall
May 15 – Minneapolis, MN @ Fine Line Music Cafe
May 16 – Omaha, NE @ The Waiting Room
May 17 – Lawrence, KS @ The Granada
May 18 – St. Louis, MO @ Old Rock House
May 20 – Nashville, TN @ Mercy Lounge
May 21 – Atlanta, GA @ Terminal West

* = with Future Islands, Ed Schrader’s Music Beat