I first found Wye Oak - Jenn Wasner and Andy Stack - 2 friends from Baltimore - via their last album 'If Children'. This was a frankly random purchase from the Indie / USA bin at the excellent Vinyl Exchange Records store in Manchester. What drew me then was Jenn's hoarse, sweet, personal vocal set over hazy reverb, classic Americana. Add to that some astonishingly good lyric writing and it quickly became a fixture at the top of the pile of CDs on my car passenger seat.

I was therefore doubly keen then to see how far the new Wye Oak record, The Knot would live up to the promise. I'd already had the chance to listen to it streamed pre-release via Merge Records - and being brutally honest, somehow it didn't demand that I went back more than once or twice. That was to do with the listening environment - laptop, streaming, headphones. It might work for bright pop music but this is the opposite. When I was a teenager I used to have a firm belief that songs that had you won over on first listen would soon fade and that it was the stuff that demanded time and attention to start with that would eventually see you through long months of listening. So I applied my own logic, gave 'The Knot' a damn good listening to, loud on the car stereo, stuck in torrential rain and stationary traffic on the M6.

'The Knot' starts out reasonably familiar on first track, 'Milk and Honey' - that hazy wobbly reverb buzz - slightly burying things to give the listener the joy of hearing them dig themselves up again. I'm sure there's a cliché or niche term for that - slow-core or drone-folk or something.

The first three tracks implanted themselves nicely enough. Track 4 'Siamese' came across as too easy, soft / loud / soft and I was almost disappointed, but I carried on past the track I'd heard before 'Take It In'. It got better and I blatantly heard the differences from the last album, particularly its rockier core.

And then Track 9 happened, 'That I Do' - "I wish you didn't need it any more / I understand exactly what you use it for /and better isn't always doing well" sung hopelessly but with love and affection across a guitar base that might well have come from 'Rust' era Neil Young. This truly feels like part 2 of something that was started in 1974 when rock guitar players all had long hair and played as much for their own benefit as the listeners. Squalling amp noise over a solid drum part making it sound like a bigger band than just the two of them. "See it's true / I need it too / but not the way you do", it is just so plaintive. A single discordant piano note is thrown in there somewhere as it plays out, just to make it feel modern.

Another highlight revealed by repeated listening is 'Sight Flight', bringing violins over jangling semi acoustic guitar with hints of mandolin. All of a sudden I was looking out for Scarlet Rivera to come and join the party.

I played the whole album again and discovered that my theory held good - the more I listened the better it got. This really was going to be the gift that keeps on giving. By the time I'd got past Birmingham I'd listened to 'The Knot' over four times. Since then it's been stuck in the car stereo and just keeps getting played.

I HAVE to get to see this band live. There's still time, 2 dates in the UK, one of them at the End Of The Road Festival, the other supporting Okkervil River in London.

I've read some other reviews of 'The Knot'. Personally I think it is classic Wye Oak, building on the last album and bettering it. What I would say is - if you think it might be for you - give Wye Oak a chance; not to grow on you, but to see (hear) the wood for the trees (bad pun time).

Whatever you do, make sure you listen to Track 9, loud, in a car, in the rain.