Wye Oak
Shriek
(City Slang)
3/5
With both its band members born in the 1980s, it is perhaps apt that Wye Oak’s new record has a strong sense of that decade’s mood.
Hailing from Maryland, multi-instrumentalist Andy Stack and vocalist Jenn Wasner have ditched the guitar focus of their previous work, choosing instead to put keyboards and synthesisers front and centre.
Despicable Animal steals the keyboard intro riff from Tears for Fears’ Everybody Wants To Rule The World to great effect while Glory is built around a huge wall of sound, Wasner’s sultry vocals bringing to mind Alison Goldfrapp.
Stripped down and stark, the vulnerable, almost spoken word ballad I Know The Law is arguably the most affecting track here.
Atmospheric and varied, Shriek is a hipster’s delight. However, there is a niggling feeling of an album lacking the kind of distinctive voice and attitude that causes people to fall in love with the best bands.
Ian Sinclair

Low Tide Drifters
Music For The Rest Of Us
(Atomic Records)
4/5
This, the second album of US folk from Low Tide Drifters, comprises 10 tracks ranging from the hard-hitting Living On Too Little to the Depression-era love songs My Vivian and Bound For Lakeview.
There’s a memorable cover too of the Scottish folk legend Alistair Hulett’s Destitution Road.
The combination of banjo, mandolin and harmonica paint a picture of life in the middle of hard times.
And, in the era of Ukip hysteria about immigration, there is an interesting US take on those whom the rich are happy to employ at cheap rates but still denigrate and demean them on the classic We Just Come To Work Here (We Don’t Come To Die).
There’s a stirring call for environmental action too on Will We Say We Did Our Best?
But however worthy its sentiments, it might cause slight embarrassment to all those smokestack socialists out there.
Mike Cattell

Ava Luna
Electric Balloon
Western Vinyl
3/5
Hailing, I’m sure, from the coolest part of New York City, five-piece Ava Luna combine funk and punk with a big dollop of soul music thrown in.
And it works. Opener Daydream is an unhinged slice of brilliance which is heavily influenced by jazz-rock period Miles Davis, while the female voices on Sears Roebuck M&MS sound a lot like The Slits.
Indeed, the band seem to have used Davis’s dense and difficult 1970s records such as On The Corner as a blueprint for their sound — just check out the squalling guitars and angry horns on the more muscular tracks.
There’s a satisfying classic feel to many of the songs, with the foot-tapping Plain Speech soon breaking down into a slower Marvin Gaye-like groove.
Disjointed and demanding in places, it’s not the easiest listen.
But the band’s obvious musical talents mean it’s an always interesting album and full of surprises.
Ian Sinclair