Why? is a hard band to pin down. In simplest terms they are an alternative hip hop /
indie rock group, but they’re more complicated than that. A band with an almost
impressionist nature that’s sometimes rap, sometimes folk, with a vocalist with a distinct
nasal heavy delivery. Formed in 2004 by frontman Jonathan “Yoni” Wolf (who had been
using Why? as a personal stage name for seven years prior). The album we’ll be
discussing is their second full LP, entitled Alopecia.
Sex and death. These are the pervasive themes that flow throughout the album. While
Yoni rarely spells things out in an sensical or detailed way, the feelings will be conveyed in
nearly every stanza. The lyrics will come off as a stream of consciousness collection of
phrases, but they serve more like personal revelations woven together to create an
overarching feeling. The odd word play works off the strong melodies and the simple, but
captivating, instrumentation.
It might seem like he’s just droning on spouting gibberish, but Yoni is baring his soul in
the lines and the feelings between them. His mortality, relationship failures, feelings of
emptiness, but also braggadocio and odd sarcastic quips. There will be verses that make
you laugh, some will make you cringe, and, more often than not, make you feel his raw
emotion.
I chose not to focus much on the instrumentation and the backdrop. It is by no means
something that should be glossed over, but personally I find the strength of the album lies in
the words flowing overtop it. When listening to Why? I find myself picking apart the word
play, while the music keeps the train on the tracks. I know some of you are less into
lyricism than I am, but I feel the band does a good job creating a tapestry for Yoni's verbal
impressionist paintings.
This is a very solid piece of art. While it won't be for everyone, it is a unique sound and a unique
voice. It is an eccentric work, one that stands alone in today's indie-sphere. Why listen to Why?
Because something so fresh, something so odd, something so raw deserves to be heard.
I chose not to focus much on the instrumentation and the backdrop. It is by no means
something that should be glossed over, but personally I find the strength of the album lies in
the words flowing overtop it. When listening to Why? I find myself picking apart the word
play, while the music keeps the train on the tracks. I know some of you are less into
lyricism than I am, but I feel the band does a good job creating a tapestry for Yoni's verbal
impressionist paintings.
This is a very solid piece of art. While it won't be for everyone, it is a unique sound and a unique
voice. It is an eccentric work, one that stands alone in today's indie-sphere. Why listen to Why?
Because something so fresh, something so odd, something so raw deserves to be heard.
This album was hard to listen to - I didn't even make it through one whole time, so I'm sorry. I definitely failed on my commitment to listen to Slack Suggest albums 2-3 times at least...really should give them all a fair shot. But something about this album was just so grating, it hit every nerve that exists in my music-loving brain, however small it may be.
ReplyDeleteTyler, you asked me how I could like a band like Krill given how annoying this guy's voice is to me. That's a really good question, one for which I don't have a great answer. But it did get me thinking: the context in which you hear a band really does make a huge difference. If you're from Boston, or live there, and are at all involved with or into the "indie" music scene or that kind of music in general, you kind of HAVE to love Krill. Not to mention my friend Luke used to be their drummer, my brother is close with all of them, they've stayed at my apartment before while on tour (I know, you've heard this all before)...you get the point. There's a personal connection there. Maybe that's what allows me to embrace Jonah's admittedly "rough" vocal delivery. Not to mention, I think his voice fits with the music. So while it's not normally the type of voice I gravitate towards, the combination of the fit and the personal connection/context in which I have heard and continue to listen to Krill makes a difference.
But this isn't about Krill; this is about Why? And the context for me listening to Why? is nothing remarkable: it was a pick in an album club I'm a part of. That's not to diminish the club in any way, it's just to say that because there's nothing remarkable about the context, and because his voice gets on my nerves so much, it's just something I can't really stomach. When I first heard this album, I thought of Citizen Cope, who I can sometimes listen to here and there, but with a singer who has a more annoying, nasally voice. Just not my thing.
That was a lot of rambling. Hope it made sense.
The first thing many people think when they hear Yoni's voce is typically not positive. After that, they usually give up on the album, or give it subsequent chances. I'm glad to say I'm in the latter category. While it's easy to dismiss Why? as try-hard trash, one should not judge the book by the cover. Maybe you genuinely do not care for it, and that's fine. When I first heard this album a few years ago, I was not a huge fan, but compelled enough that I stuck with it. Now Alopecia is one of my all-time favorite albums.
ReplyDeleteThe lyrics are definitely the strong point of the album. When most people think of hip-hop, they do not think of a white guy with a whiny voice, but the medium in which these words are delivered actually compliments the words themselves (I don't think I would classify this album as hip-hop and more as indie rock, but that's neither here nor there). The stuff said here is just what you'd expect from a guy who's spent most of his early life in Ohio; depressing concepts set in a mundane, suburban scene.
While the lyrics are the focal point, the instrumentation is actually worth commenting on too. A lot of the songs are guitar and piano driven, but not too generic that they lose one's interest. Some more diverse instruments like toy pianos and vibraphones are present. There's also a lot of experimentation with acapella-like vocals.
While Yoni is not the best singer, and I do think his strength lies in rapping and lyricism, the composition of the songs on which he sings is good enough to make up for it, and distract from the matter. Despite the fact that the main themes of these songs have darker tones, there are uplifting moments that keep you grounded and optimistic. It reminds you that while we may go through tough times, the fact that we have the privilege to experience these emotions is a beautiful thing. For example, the instrumentation and composition of songs like Simeon's Dilemma make you feel sympathy for the creep; showing otherwise frowned-upon concepts in a different light, and giving them new meaning.
All in all, I love this album, and always will, as it reminds me of some of the harsher truths of life. No matter how bad it gets, I can always turn to Alopecia by Why? to feel sympathy.
Despite having heard about Why? from plenty of people, I've never actually given them a listen. This band had always been described to me as a rap group, but after listening to this album, I don't think I agree with that. This album seems to straddle the line between speak-singing and sort-of-emo-indie rock (I'm bad with genre defining). The point being, there was a lot more going on here instrumentally that I was pleasantly surprised by.
ReplyDeleteI gotta say, I enjoyed this a lot more than I was expecting. The instrumentals feel like they were given a lot of thought. It's as if they were meant to be just as noticeable as Yoni's uncomfortable musings about sex and pessimistic self-reflection. The Fall of Mr. Fifths sticks out as an example of this with it's elongated intro and outro of chimes.
I feel like I should mention the vocals. There's really no getting around that the vocal quality is not great. I'm a person who generally doesn't care if a band's lead has a grating voice, but even on this record there were moments where I was taken out of the song because of this. (Looking at you Fatalist Palmistry...)
I liked most of the songs on this album, but it still felt fairly uneven to me. There are tracks like These Few Presidents and By Torpedo or Crohn's that got stuck in my head after the first listen, but there are also tracks that I feel are completely forgettable.
I liked this album enough that I will definitely be checking out more of Why?'s discography and I'll probably come back to this album itself every once in a while.
Tyler, reading through your introduction to the album I feel like you did such a good job of describing what I like about Why? that I don't really have a ton to add. In the past I've been more familiar with Elephant Eyelash than Alopecia, though I have heard it before.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite songs on the album are probably "These Few Presidents", "Song of the Sad Assassin", and "Simeon's Dilemma". "Presidents" has one of my favorite Why? lyrics: "Even though I haven't seen you in years, yours is the funeral I'd fly to from anywhere". I love that lyric because (this is gonna sound weird) I think about attending the funerals of the people I love most like pretty often. Maybe I just like coming up with speeches listing all the reasons they're incredible people that it would never be appropriate to say to people in any other situation. It's like the "who's gonna watch you die" lyric in that Death Cab song. Something about loyalty. I guess that was a weird/nonsensical tangent but whatever.
I for one value weird voices and weird lyrics a lot, so Yoni is kinda a gem to me. Why? is original and makes me think and those are both some of my top criteria for music. Also Yoni's podcasts with mewithoutYou's Aaron Weiss are like pinnacle moments in history.
This was a mess I'm sorry. I've been sitting in here alone for a long time.