# Civilian (Wye Oak album)

Civilian is the third studio album by indie band Wye Oak. It was released on March 8, 2011, by Merge Records in the United States and City Slang in Europe.
The A.V. Club named Civilian the best album of 2011.

## Release

On February 27, 2011, Wye Oak announced the release of their new album, along with the title track.

### Music video

The music video for "Fish" was released on April 8, 2011.
On September 2, 2011, Wye Oak released the music video for "Holy Holy". It was directed by Jeremy Johnstone and produced by Greg Beauchamp.

### 10th Anniversary Reissue

On October 22, 2021, to mark the 10th anniversary of the album, Merge Records released "Civilian + Cut All The Wires 2009-2011". In addition to the original "Civilian" album, a second disc containing 12 demos and outtakes from the "Civilian" sessions was included.

## In popular culture

An edited version of the title track of Civilian was featured in the 2011 trailer for the second season of The Walking Dead and also the closing scene of the second-season episode "18 Miles Out" (2012). "Civilian" was also featured in the final scene of the 13th episode of the North American remake of Being Human (2011), in the episode "The Man Who Sailed Around His Soul" of One Tree Hill (2011), in the episode "Thy Will Be Done" of Underbelly: Badness (2012), in the ending scene of the Animal Kingdom third-season episode "Prey", and in the final scene of the Longmire season 4 finale "What Happens on the Rez..." (2015), as well in the films Safety Not Guaranteed (2012) and The Odd Way Home (2013).

## Critical reception

Professional ratings :
| Aggregate scores ||
| Source | Rating |
| AnyDecentMusic? | 7.7/10 |
| Metacritic | 81/100 |
| Review scores ||
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic | |
| The A.V. Club | A |
| The Boston Phoenix | |
| Consequence of Sound | |
| Mojo | |
| Pitchfork | 7.9/10 |
| PopMatters | 7/10 |
| Q | |
| Spin | 8/10 |
| Uncut | |
Civilian was met with "universal acclaim" reviews from critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, this release received an average score of 81 based on 20 reviews.
Tim Sendra of AllMusic said: "The albums sounds brighter and better recorded, Wasner's songs are crisper and more memorable with an extra amount of sadness added, the performances invested with a level of intensity and fiery soul that had only been hinted at before."

### Accolades

Accolades for Civilian :
| Publication | Accolade | Rank |
| The A.V. Club | The A.V. Club's Top 26 Albums of 2011 | 1 |
| Magnet | Magnet's Top 20 Albums of 2011 | 8 |
| Paste | Paste's Top 50 Albums of 2011 | 18 |
| Pazz & Jop | Pazz & Jop's Top Albums of 2011 | 40 |
| PopMatters | PopMatters' Top 75 Albums of 2011 | 50 |
| PopMatters | PopMatters' Top 10 Indie Rock Albums of 2011 | 9 |
| Stereogum | Stereogum's Top 100 Albums of the Decade (2010s) | 95 |
| Treble | Treble's Top 50 Albums of 2011 | 17 |

## Track listing

All tracks are written by Jenn Wasner

## Personnel

Credits adapted from Tidal.
* Jenn Wasner – vocals, guitar, bass, keyboards, percussion, production
* Andy Stack – drums, bass, guitar, keys, percussion, production, engineering
* Alan Douches – mastering
* John Congleton – mixing
* Chris Freeland – engineering
* Mickey Freeland – engineering
* Michael Patrick O'Leary – cover photo
* Cady Bean-Smith – cover design

## Charts

Chart performance for Civilian :
| Chart (2011) | Peak position |
| US Billboard 200 | 137 |
| US Heatseekers Albums (Billboard) | 1 |
| US Independent Albums (Billboard) | 22 |
| US Top Rock Albums (Billboard) | 32 |
| US Top Alternative Albums (Billboard) | 16 |