Popcorn Noises

Wye Oak - “My Neighbor”

Y’know, I looked up a lot of videos of this song trying to find one that was close to the original studio recording. Thing is, in a live setting, “My Neighbor” has a tendency to turn to mush. The intricate guitar parts get blended into a noisy squall and Jenn Wasner’s understated vocal nuances get subsumed by the pedal-driven chaos. This clip of her playing the song acoustic in a Portland apartment is the most pristine version I could find, and even it does poor justice to the record, where the pieces of “My Neighbor”—the carefully panned guitars, the tumbling drums, the propulsive bass, the florid harmonies—are recorded and arranged just so. Each voice speaks with clarity and still locks into step with everything around it. It takes a few listens to catch everything that’s going on, but it only ensures you’ll come back to it again and again. That, of course, and the fact that for being so delicate it kicks some serious ass. “My Neighbor” may very well be the most well-mannered pummeling you’ll receive from any song this year.