What does "Wye Oak" mean to you? If you are or were a resident of Maryland, you might know that it was at one point the "honorary state tree" of Maryland, and the largest white oak tree in all of the United States. But I'm not a Maryland native or resident, so the name had no meaning to me. I was instantly mystified. To me, it's so ... ambiguous. So often, the name of a band gives away so much about what genre the band might dabble in, or what kind of image it might have. But "Wye Oak" sounds like it could be someone's real, birth name. It could be the name of an R&B singer, or a bluegrass band. Or a dream pop group. (Part of this association probably has to do with Rhye, the electro-R&B group.)

So it follows (after my wordy intro) that Wye Oak is duo from Baltimore that's been labelled everything from indie pop to folk and dream pop. You may have seen the band, composed of Jenn Wasner and Andy Stack, perform at this year's Coachella Festival. But they've been around the block quite a few times -- in fact, their soon-to-be-released album "Shriek" is the duo's fourth full-length album to date.