“Good God / what the hell, what the fuck?” raps Yoni Wolf, WHY?‘s heady mischief-maker, minutes into his band’s fourth album, while harps flutter over clattering beats. “Am I just a red bump in the rash of cash worship?” There’s a lot of soul-searching on Mumps, Etc., as Yoni ruminates on illness, death, groupies, the touring grind and his status as a modern “rapper” in the indie-verse. Like any good WHY? album, the results are heady, perplexing and often revelatory.
WHY?‘s sonic ambitions have grown exponentially with each subsequent album—Mumps, Etc. is their most layered, headphone-friendly set to date, utilizing an eight-member choir and a string quartet, not to mention plenty of harps, flutes and ass-blasting rhythms. From a purely musical standpoint, they’ve never sounded more confident: check the moody piano chords on “Waterlines,” the mariachi horns and dubby guitar blasts on “White English,” or the swelling female harmonies of the gospel-ish “Kevin’s Cancer.”
via Paste (read the rest there)
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