Wye Oak

In honor of Civilian turning ten this year, we're so excited to share Civilian + Cut All The Wires: 2009-2011, a deluxe reissue including a second disc made up of songs written during the Civilian era, demos, and live sessions. The first single, "Electricity," is out everywhere today. smarturl.it/Civilian-Cut

You can read Jenn's full thoughts about these songs in her essay at wyeoakmusic.com, and on our social channels, and a few thoughts from Andy on "Electricity" and this unreleased material below:

"After playing “Electricity” in live shows for a year or so around 2009, we made a studio recording but never mixed it, and ultimately decided to shelve the song. And so, it was relegated to the dustbin of time, AKA an old hard drive which I did not unearth until 2020 when I came looking for old photos and other memorabilia from the Civilian era. On my old drive, I found a treasure trove of material which we had both forgotten ever existed—original demos, live versions of the songs, and, most exciting, a bunch of fully realized studio recordings from this era which never saw the light of day.

On “Electricity,” I was really bashing the drums in a way that I never would now, and I hear that same abandon in Jenn’s singing. The recording has much of what defined the first phase of Wye Oak: an urgent push and pull between chaos and beauty, and a hard-hitting attempt to push out as much sound as we possibly could from our duo setup. It’s not who we are anymore, but I still relate to the old feeling, and I still get goosebumps when I listen to these recordings. Everything old is new." - AS

The Civilian + Cut All the Wires: 2009–2011 double-LP is pressed on deluxe green swirl Peak Vinyl housed in a gatefold jacket that features each album’s cover when flipped. It's out via Merge Records on October 22nd.

3 years ago | [YT] | 19