Why? came to prominence following the released of their debut full-length studio album “Elephant Eyelash” in 2005, which featured the sound of a full indie rock live band. They embarked on a tour in 2005, in promotion of their debut album building up their following as they go. They toured with a band called “Islands” in May 2006, and then re entered the studio to record their sophomore album entitled “Alopecia”. The band asked fans to mail photographs of their palms for the album artwork, and led the promotion of the album with the release of “Hollows” being the first single. In 2008, “Alopecia” was released and gained much critical acclaim. The release of the album coincided with a tour.
Why? released their third album “Eskimo Snow”, which had ten songs on it. The album saw the band moving in less of a hip-hop direction. It was even described by front man Yoni Wolf as the least hip-hop out of anything that he had ever been involved with. The band announced the release of an EP called “Sod in the Seed” which would be released on August 13th 2012 on City Slang. The EP was generally more uplifting than the last one, featuring rapping, which was something that they didn’t feature on the last album. They released their fourth studio album on October 9th 2012.
2013, saw the band release an EP called “Golden Tickets” which was on the ‘Joyful Noise’ label.
Celebrating their tenth anniversary as a band, Why? - by turns hailing from Cincinnati, Ohio and Berkeley, California - can now reasonably claim to be one of the great cult success stories of the last decade, but were they ever to stop and wonder quite why it was that they hadn’t crossed over more widely, you’d have to admit that the answer would be obvious. Their unusual blend of styles won’t be for everyone, mixing typical indie rock sounds with touches of alternative, abstract hip hop and, on most recent record Mumps, Etc., elements of dream pop, too; add to that the downright zany lyricism of charismatic frontman Yoni Wolf and you realise why I used the world cult earlier. Their most recent UK jaunt, two years ago, was prefaced by Wolf in a YouTube video that had him lifting weights, doing press-ups and going for a run in the “freezing sleet.” That’s a level of energy that he replicated on stage, too, with shows at London’s Electric Ballroom and Manchester’s Methodist Central Hall rapturously reviewed by critics. Wolf is capable of flitting between outright sincerity, emotional intensity and high-octane boisterousness in the blink of an eye, and so diverse is the instrumental talent of his bandmates, they typically match him all the way.
Joeg_67
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