Named after the official state tree of Maryland, Wye Oak band members Andy Stack & Jenn Waster quickly decided to change the name from Monarch after realizing that there were at least seven other bands that had claimed that name before them.

Wye Oak has been writing and playing music for many years in Baltimore, and when they were finally ready to piece it all together, they recorded their first album entitled If Children which was released in April on Merge Records.

I stumbled across them blindly while searching for an Orlando band called The OaKs over at the musical social site, Blip.FM. After falling in love with the first track immediately, I headed over to their website where I found they were giving away four tracks off If Children for free promotion.