Flock of Dimes' Jenn Wasner: 'I became incredibly adept at outrunning myself'

As heartbreak coincided with the pandemic, the Wye Oak songwriter's cerebral coping mechanisms failed. Her stirring new album confronts her emotional blindspots

As the promo cycle for Jenn Wasner's second album as Flock of Dimes kicked in recently, she felt eager to get back to work. Then she was struck by a new feeling. Oh, but I don't want to do anything?" she recalls from her green sofa on a sunny day in Carrboro, North Carolina, sounding bemused. I would like to read my book and lie in the sun. A thought like that was so novel to me."

Over the past decade, Wasner seemed to have an unusually healthy relationship to her work. In 2011, she and fellow Baltimorean Andy Stack experienced a breakthrough with their third album as indie-rock duo Wye Oak, the ruminative and stormy Civilian: rave reviews, syncs on The Walking Dead and One Tree Hill, 200 gigs in one year. Burned out by their moment in the sun, Wasner decided to abandon the pursuit of career growth to remain connected to her music and unencumbered by external expectations, following in the footsteps of her irreducible hero, Arthur Russell.