Froya , a local swing pop band who have made quite the impression with their softness and hip song opened the night crowd up just before Wye Oak comes to stage. Froya brought seven of their songs, including “Save My Heart”, “Fries and Cream” and “Panic Bird”. As the band entered the stage with a start of their first song, there was an instant chemistry captivated by the music, the band and the audience.”Two Small Death“ Jenn Wasner technically strong singer, and being made to perform twisty melodies at full pelt for taxes his voice till you wince in sympathy.

“Holy Holy” was next, the minor audio clipping in the bridge was extravagant and literally perfect, some of crowd started singing along, out of nowhere I heard someone kept roaring “the searing gorgeous holy holy ! ” right after their third song. They showed how big they love the crowd “I already heard I know you’re awesome. So far, don’t screw it up” the band was communicative into crowd interaction, audience kept asking her a questions, she answered it friendly and even made a joke of it. “Altar” made a different mood for the audience, illusionist fantastic with delayed melody coming from the guitar and perfectly hit the crowd, they showed the differences of their own indie rock style of genres and it was kick ass! Throughout the whole set I personally couldn’t shake off the feeling that the band sounded unique and original even some of people have compared them with The White Stripes, or War Paint. The crowd had been pumped up as “Take It In“ was played next, followed by three other songs including the single “Civilian” and the crowd’s most-requested “That I Do”. Few of the crowd were mostly dancing with a beer in hand, some were quiet and couple were chattering and cuddling.

Surprisingly right before playing their single Civilian Jenn gave out a spoiler, great news about them going to add a bassist as the new member of Wye Oak band. “I know something is missing in our band we need bass in our song but we couldn’t afford bass guitar (giggling), but next time we would bring bass guitar it’s going to be awesome, definitely next time!”

After Civilian, the single known as one of TV series soundtrack “Walking Dead”, they left the stage, people were nowhere near jaded and kept on screaming for encore. It was our lucky night. They came back to the stage and continued to play another 2 songs, right after the audience asked “what is your favourite band?”, they awkwardly couldn’t answer it, but nonetheless they played one of their favourite song “Neil Young – Pocahontas” As Jenn tuned her guitar to get ready for her solo, she shared that she worked at Gilmores Cafe on Baltimore, The Bee reminds her to that place and said this place is even better, thanked The Bee for having them! Then Jenn Waster dramatically ended the show singing “Doubt” as solo guitar. Well, there they were on stage in Kuala Lumpur for their very first time, loving the crowd and the crowd loved them too. We hope that they keep their words to come back here again.  (Viary Chandra//Made Sania)

1.Wye Oak is a duo, composed of Andy Stack (drums, keyboards, backup vocals) and Jenn Wasner (vocals, guitars) from Baltimore, Maryland, (USA). Monarch is the previous name of the band before they changing their name into Wye Oak

2.The band name is a reference to the former State tree of their home state ; Maryland.

3. Wye Oak were mostly influenced by US Indie rock giants like Pavement, Yo La Tengo, and Wilco. They also take reference from singer songwriter such as Neil Young and Elliot Smith.

4. Jenn and Andy Stack of Wye Oak grew up in the sububrbs outside of Baltimore.Jenn grew up in Owings Mills and Andy grew up in Catonsville.They met in high school and eventually formed a band with a few other friend

5.Although they still hew closely to 90’s Indie rock, their label found a way of describing their sound best as ; “ 21st century folk”

6.Andy Stack  attended Berkelee School of Music graduated with a major focused in jazz

7.Jenn Wasner started taking piano lessons when she was about eight, and her mom taught her to play guitar when she was a teenager.she was playing music a lot before it occurred to her to start writing on her own.she’s always had an innate memory and sense for music, though.

8.One of their single ; Civilian, has been the soundtrack of some major TV Series such as The Walking Dead and One Tree Hill

9. It’s not easy to describe their range of music, some call it slow core, other call it dream folk, or, if you need a detail information, pitchfork describe their sound as “earnest folk influenced indie rock with touches of noise and dream“

10.Based on an interview, Jenn Wasner most hated song is “Papa Roach  Scars“  But the reason she chose this one is because she felt like everyone’s heard “Thank God I’m A Country Boy”,but probably a lot of people haven’t heard this song and she feel like everyone should have to hear this song at some point in their life. (Viary Chandra)

The multitasking band of two debuted their sound in the mid-2006, with their first album If Children. Continuing with their second album, The Knot three years later, which didn’t get as much attention as the re-release of If Children after being signed to a record label. If Children gained a rough seven from some music reviews, said to be “endangered” as most music are starting to side with technology, also described as “earnest, without expecting a pat on the back for it”. Minimalist, perhaps best describes the band, as they’re fusion of incompatible and simple elements creates a greatness of its own. Their recent release Civilian in 2011, was the point of emergence, described as this century’s folk, having the ability of degenerating indie-folk with the essence of both sonic noise and hymnal folklore effect. Gaining an incremental eight from music reviews, despite the awkward intimacy between the two, the chemistry of dark calm terror and haunting distortions were faultless.

Upfront presents Wye Oak will be the sophomore concert of May’s event calendar, worth the time and worth the mention to fellow family and friends.

Upfront presents Wye Oak
Date  :    May 11th, 2013
Venue  :    The Bee, Publika, Kuala Lumpur
Tickets :
 Presale tickets – RM78
 Regular sale tickets – RM98
Tickets on sale at The Bee Outlets (Jaya One and Publika) and Rock Corner, Bangsar Village 1 and Ben Sherman (Bangsar Village 2 and Pavilion). Entrance opens at 8 pm. Fair warning that this intimate event is 18+.