Mountain Views News          Saturday, May 10, 2014

Mountain Views-News Saturday, May 10, 2014 
B2 ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT Mountain Views-News Saturday, May 10, 2014 
B2 ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT 
SEAN’S SHAMELESS 
REVIEWS: 


By Sean Kayden 

WYE OAK 

On the band’s forth full length album, Baltimore duo Wye Oak ditch guitars 

for bass and synthesizers. It’s a bold move given their trademark sound over 

the course of eight plus years. Singer Jenn Wasner appears confident while 
making the departure from indie folk-rock/dream pop style to echoing the likes of snyth-based, ‘80s 
pop music. Andy Stack provides much of the background sound with drums, synthesizers and other 
electronics. The advancement in their sound 
was probably needed despite the critical acclaim 
of their previous effort, “Civilian.” However, 
“Shriek” offers an uneven passage as the band 
travels to unexplored territory. Many of these 
new songs require some extra time settling in. 
There are certain aspects worth praising, but the 
overall experience comes up quite a bit short. 
“Before” opens up the album heavy on sound effects, but dark in tone. It feels as if the song is in slow 
motion as the catharsis is in full force. This specific vibe is planted throughout the album. Majority 
of the tracks found on “Shriek” may feel extensive, however, no songs reach five minutes in duration. 
The title track secures the top spot for best song here. The warm bass lines and Wasner’s croon work 
wonders. “The Tower” is a close second for standout track. While Wasner previously mumbled 
while she sung, she is clear and confident this time around. Overall, “Shriek” should be considered 
a reinvention of a band that found success at what they were known for doing. The change in pace 
might be considered shocking. While it doesn’t always hit all the right notes, it’s still a meritorious 
effort. “Sick Talk” has one of the best choruses found on “Shriek.” Unfortunately, the rest of the song 
is difficult to engage. Wasner is ranting more than she’s actually singing. “Despicable Animal” acts the 
same way with a beautiful sounding chorus only to be drowned by murky verses. Like most of the 
other tracks, there are certain aspects to songs to have a predilection for, but rarely, if ever, did I find 
myself liking an entire track from beginning to end without any hesitation. 

Artist: Wye Oak 
Album: Shriek 
Label: Merge Records 
Release Date: April 29th, 2014 
Wye Oak’s “Shriek” is a difficult album to grasp. There are parts of it I enjoyed. My participation in 
listening to the album wasn’t entirely desirable. In fact, it was rather frustrating because I wanted 
to like it so much. In a weird way, I do welcome the band’s latest sound, but returning for multiple 
listens will be rather unlikely. The songs I mentioned above I’ll definitely listen to throughout the 
summer. As for the rest of the album, those tracks will fall to the wayside. “Shriek” never connects the 
way I would have wanted. The repetitive tone, inconsistency found within most songs, and nebulous 
meanings behind some tracks makes “Shriek” disappointing. Despite the dissatisfaction, “Shriek” can 
be rewarding in very small parts, but why waste your time when one can seek uncompromising 

enjoyment elsewhere? 

Grade: 6 out of 10 
Key Tracks: “Before,” “Shriek,” 



Jeff’s Book Picks By Jeff Brown 

The Goldfinch: A Novel 

(Pulitzer Prize for Fiction) 

by Donna Tartt 

"The Goldfinch is a rarity that comes 
along perhaps half a dozen times per 
decade, a smartly written literary novel 
that connects with the heart as well as the 
mind....an extraordinary work of fiction."-
Stephen King, New York Times Book 
Review. Theo Decker, a 13-year-old New 
Yorker, miraculously survives an accident 
that kills his mother. Abandoned by his 
father, Theo is taken in by the family of a 
wealthy friend. Bewildered by his strange 
new home on Park Avenue, disturbed by 
schoolmates who don't know how to talk 
to him, and tormented above all by his 
longing for his mother, he clings to the 
one thing that reminds him of her: a small, 
mysteriously captivating painting that 
ultimately draws Theo into the underworld 
of art. As an adult, Theo moves silkily 
between the drawing rooms of the rich 
and the dusty labyrinth of an antiques 
store where he works. The Goldfinch is a 
mesmerizing, stay up all night, tell your 
friends triumph. A book that stimulates 
the mind and touches the heart. 



Margaret Fuller: A New American Life (Pulitzer Prize for 

Biography) by Megan Marshall 

A richly researched book that tells the remarkable story of a 19th century author, journalist, critic and 
pioneering advocate of women’s rights. Margaret Fuller was Thoreau’s first editor, Emerson’s close 
friend, daring war correspondent, tragic heroine. After her untimely death in a shipwreck , the sense 
and passion of her life’s work were eclipsed by scandal. Marshall’s inspired narrative brings her back 
to indelible life. Whether detailing her front page New York Tribune editorials against conditions 
in the city’s prisons and mental hospitals, or illuminating her hunger for passionate experience, 
Marshall’s biography gives the most thorough and compassionate view of an extraordinary woman. 
“Megan Marshall’s brilliant Margaret Fuller brings us as close as we are ever likely to get to this 
astonishing creature. She rushes out at us from her nineteenth century, always several steps ahead, 
inspiring, heartbreaking, magnificent.” Rebecca Newberger Goldstein 

Toms River: A Story of Science and Salvation (Pulitzer Prize 

for General Non-Fiction) by Dan Fagin 

The riveting true story of a small town ravaged by industrial pollution, Toms River melds hard-
hitting investigative reporting, a fascinating scientific detective story, and an unforgettable cast of 
characters into a sweeping narrative. One of New Jersey’s seemingly quiet seaside towns, Toms River 
became the unlikely setting for a decades long drama that culminated in 2001 with one of the 
largest legal settlements in the annals of toxic dumping. Dan Fagin recounts the saga of rampant 
pollution and inadequate oversight that made Toms River a cautionary example for fast growing 
industrial towns from South Jersey to South China. He tells the stories of the pioneering scientists 
and physicians who first identified pollutants as a cause of cancer, and brings to life the everyday 
heroes in Toms River who struggled for justice: A gripping human drama rooted in a centuries old 
scientific quest. It’s a tale of dumpers at midnight and deceptions in broad daylight, of corporate 
avarice and government neglect, and of a few brave individuals who refused to keep silent until the 
truth was exposed.

BEAUTY FROM CHAOS ON MARS 
THE WORLD AROUND US 
Beautiful streamlined islands and narrow gorges 
were carved by fast-flowing water pounding through 
a small plateau region near the southeastern margin 
of the vast Vallis Marineris canyon system.

 Images captured on 7 December 2013 by the 
European Space Agency’s Mars Express show the 
central portion of Osuga Valles, which has a total 
length of 164 km. It is some 170 km south of Eos 
Chaos, which lies in the far eastern section of Valles 
Marineris.

 Osuga Valles is an outflow channel that emanates 
from a region of chaotic terrain at the edge of Eos 
Chaos to the west (top in the main images). Such 
landscape is dominated by randomly oriented and 
heavily eroded blocks of terrain. Another example is 
seen at the bottom of this scene, filling the 2.5 km-
deep depression into which Osuga Valles empties. 

Catastrophic flooding is thought to have created the 
heavily eroded Osuga Valles and the features within it. 
Streamlines around the islands in the valley indicate 
that the direction of flow was towards the northeast 
(bottom right in the main color, topographic and 
3D images shown here) and sets of parallel, narrow 
grooves on the floor of the channel suggest that the 
water was fast-flowing.

 Differences in elevation within the feature, along 
with the presence and cross-cutting relationships of 
channels carved onto the islands, suggest that Osuga 
Valles experienced several episodes of flooding. The perspective view, which is oriented with the direction of the water flow towards the top of the image, shows the details of the grooved valley floor and the 
channels carved into the islands more clearly.

 Close to the northern-most (far right) part of the channel in the main images, two large irregular-shaped blocks appear to have broken away from the surrounding terrain, but do not seem to have 
experienced as much erosion as the rounded islands.

 The floodwater eventually emptied into the deep depression of chaotic terrain at the bottom of the main images, but it is not yet known whether the water drained away into the subsurface or formed a 
temporary lake. 

ASTROPOETRY CONTEST EXTENDED UNTIL MAY 31

 The deadline for submitting entries to the Astronomers Without Borders (AWB) annual astropoetry contest has been extended to May 31. Poems submitted to the contest can be in any form, but they should 
relate in some way to stars, planets, sun, moon, space exploration, or the night sky. Poems should be submitted on the special entry form provided. For the 2014 contest details and a link to the submission 
form, see:
http://astronomerswithoutborders.org/gam2014-programs/astroarts/1467-astropoetry-contest-for-gam2014.html

 AWB is an international organization dedicated to increasing awareness of the universe among all peoples. See their website at: www.astronomerswithoutborders.org

 Here’s the first-place winning poem from the 2013 contest, Young Adult Division: 

I LOOK UP AT THE SKY 

BY ZIQI LU, XINXIANG CITY, HENAN PROVINCE, CHINA

I look up at the sky

Starlight, slowly pour like the firefly

Together we feel the night

feel the starlight

The sun shines bright

The moon light, warm and soft

But the many many starlight

They are lovely and I like 

You can contact Bob Eklund at: b.eklund@MtnViewsNews.com.