Review #1, Draft

Nothing like everything you've heard before
CD Review: Why? Eskimo Snow (2009) / Label: anticon

It's hard not to love this album, especially if you're into charming art rock with quirky lyrics. But even if you're not, you'll instantly and helplessly be sucked into the happy harmonies and intricate stories of Why?'s newest CD, Eskimo Snow. Recorded live in Minneapolis along with their previous LP, Alopecia (2008), Eskimo Snow was released on September 22, 2009 by the artist-owned Indie label anticon. It is the fourth LP by Cincinnati natives Jonathan (Yoni) Wolf (vocals), brother Josiah Wolf, and Doug McDiarmid, who classify their music as “pop-inflected psychedelic folk-hop.”

At first, Eskimo Snow sounds like the spirited, feel-good tunes of the Beach Boys, or less antiquated bands like The Thrills and Modest Mouse. For the first five songs, Why?'s lovely noise of harmonizing vocals and instantly pleasing melodies is interrupted only occasionally by grungy guitars that remind one of Weezer, or some of the other '90s bands whose posters likely decorated Yoni, Josiah and Doug's walls. On pianos, bells, and violins, Why? create the kind of enchantment that sounds like an endless beach vacation with 24/7 sunshine: pleasant and sugary, and perhaps just a bit overproduced. If it weren't for the weird lyrics and progressive changes, or for Yoni's charmingly imperfect vocals (“a sickly sweet, half-rapped, singsong style”), it might be nauseating.

But Why? know how to bring their own twist to the established table of post-2000 American Indie. In between the happiness there are welcomed glimpses of melancholy that grow more prominent as the album flowers into an eclectic cross between Bright Eyes, And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead, and The Walkmen. True, there’s nothing fundamentally new to Why’s sound, but they’ve managed to combine an array of influences and turn them into something fresh and exciting. Starting out rather slow and somber (“I conquered my own childhood silence, and now the world is my lit confessional marquee...”), “Into The Shadows Of My Embrace” transitions through several tempo and melody changes, until it bursts into a chorus of jumbled voices chanting, “We found a dead fox, and a dozen matchbox cars, when we cut back the hedges on Cortelyu place…” The rest of the quite wordy, 35-minute album is marked by equally imaginative lyrics that were probably not always crafted entirely unintoxicated. “Even The Good Wood Gone” shows that reflections on death don't have to be sad, but can also be oddly entertaining: “And when I'm really buried I'll be buried in Cleveland with a new pair of ski's and someone's old set of keys to their car...”

Eskimo Snow is uplifting and touching at the same time; it’s the accomplished work of a band that is clearly having fun, while also presenting a profound look at the “most mundane of life's happenings,” as their bio on Myspace explains. When, in “One Rose,” one of the masterpieces of this album, the singer/narrator tells us that “all the things inside me, I assume, are doing what they need to be doing,” we can relate. Why? know how to move us without being soppy or repetitive. And despite all the obvious references to other bands, Eskimo Snow is an original and inspiring take on love, mortality and everyday struggles. With their catchy tunes and heartfelt lyrics, Why? master the fine line between easily likable radio pop and intelligent storyteller songs that, usually, one listens to only on vinyl and by candlelight.