At7 — Jenn Wasner
DURHAM | On Flock of Dimes, Bon Iver, and Wye Oak’s Every Day Like the Last
WORDS BY CALEB FREEMAN
ILLUSTRATIONS BY DANE THIBEAULT & ELLA MAZUR
These days, Jenn Wasner is trying to find calm amidst the chaos. Over her nearly two-decade career, the widely prolific singer and multi-instrumentalist has become a stalwart of the indie rock and alt-folk scenes, acclaimed for her work as one half of Wye Oak and solo project as Flock of Dimes. In the past ten years, she has released music and toured with what she calls an extended family of fellow musicians, including Amelia Meath and Nick Sanborn of Sylvan Esso, Roberto Carlos Lange of Helado Negro, Madeline Kenney, and Jon Ehrens of White Life. In 2019, Wasner became an official member of Bon Iver after contributing to the album i,i. In short, she busy.
The frequency of Wasner’s output has evolved at an equally rapid pace, each release a reinvention showcasing a new approach, sound, or collaboration. Wasner and Wye Oak bandmate Andy Stack broke through with their 2011 album, Civilian. The album refined the gloomy, meditative, occasionally menacing sound of the duo’s first two records, blending elements of dream pop and folk idioms into textured, fully fleshed-out soundscapes that floated effortlessly from gentle, brooding lows to explosions of guitar and drums.
Wye Oak might have continued down this path, but exhausted from the rigours of touring, the band reinvented itself in order to move forward. In 2014, they released Shriek─a groovy, atmospheric record that marked a significant departure from the band’s guitar-driven and largely acoustic sound and placed greater emphasis on synthesisers, electronic beats, and bass-driven grooves. Since then, Wye Oak has continued to evolve, and both Wasner and Stack have embarked on solo projects and moved away from their hometown of Baltimore.
When the pandemic halted touring, Wasner had recently been through a painful breakup and suddenly found herself in her Durham home with a lot of time on her hands. From this solitary lull came a new creative approach that inspired Flock of Dimes’s second record, Head of Roses, released in 2021. If You See Me, Say Yes, the first Flock of Dimes record, had been a largely solitary creation, written, performed, and produced by Wasner, and driven by her creative vision. With Head of Roses, Wasner took a different approach, inviting a trusted team of collaborators to help shape the record and letting go of some of the assumptions and expectations she had about creating art in a male-dominated space. The album, released to critical acclaim, showcased a new, embodied approach to Wasner’s songwriting, one focused on healing and finding support from her creative community.
Wye Oak’s latest release Every Day Like the Last, out now, is a return to form, reminiscent of the band’s earlier sound in its intricate strumming and instrumentation, but more mature and sonically adventurous. There are polyrhythms and odd time signatures, steel guitar, and some of Wasner’s sharpest lyricism to date. Every Day Like the Last also challenges what an album cycle is supposed to look like. Six of the nine songs on the record have been released as singles over the past four years, but in the context of the record, these songs assume new life and meaning. It is an experiment that makes way for new creative approaches that challenge the established mould.