The first time I ever encountered this up and coming band from Baltimore, I saw them open for Merge label mates Shearwater and they completely blew them out of the shear water. Lead singer/guitarist Jenn Wasner's vocals are staggering, ranging somewhere between a newcomer like Jessica Lea Mayfield and legends like Kim Deal from The Pixies/The Breeders and Kristin Hersh of Throwing Muses. Her command of feedback along with boyfriend/drummer/keyboard player Andy Stack make this two piece seem a lot bigger than they are.

Wye Oak aren't the first band to do the two piece, guy/girl thing (see The White Stripes, Mates of State, etc.) but only two albums in, The Knot proves that Wasner and Stack are going to be major players in the music scene for years to come. Building on top of their 2008 debut If Children which featured a wall of sound built exclusively around guitar squall, drums and keyboards, The Knot adds a few more subtle layers to their already impressive array. Tracks such as "For Prayer" add a blistering pedal steel to the mix and "Siamese" and "I Want For Nothing" add gorgeous violins to Wasner's haunting delivery. The Knot's greatest attribute though is the hooks in each and every song. Every hook here is so memorable that it'll have you humming different tunes from it for days on end. Not a bad song to be found in this batch of ten, The Knot is Wye Oak's coming out party as one of the best new bands to surface in the last couple of years.