Baltimore indie-pop duo Wye Oak are preparing to release their sixth album, The Louder I Call, the Faster It Runs, on April 6. They’ve released two songs from the album already—“It Was Not Natural” and the title track. Both pit Jenn Wasner’s disarming, introspective voice and guitar punctuations against Andy Stack’s dense, technically dazzling percussion and keyboard backing. “Lifer,” the band’s third and most somber release from the album, features a more straightforward arrangement than the previous singles (particularly the title track, which is dominated by dizzying synth polyrhythms.) Wasser’s soaring, wistful chorus—“Did you say that I was the lifer?/Did you say that life could be better?”—is pitted against a catchy, snaking guitar line to create an immediate appeal. Wye Oak’s last album was 2016’s Tween. Listen below.
