Go Tell Fire To The Mountain

Wu Lyf (pronounced "woo life") hail from Manchester and are absolutely nothing like you'd expect from that scant information alone. The band drench their sound in floods of reverb and employ the kind of dramatic songwriting that helped put Arcade Fire where they are today, albeit far less theatrical. Singer Ellery James Roberts possess an urgent rasp of a voice and spits out his occasionally inaudible lyrics in such a manner that could divide opinion and lose Wu Lyf as many fans as it could earn them. This is why I adore this record: it genuinely sounds like the band are trying something interesting and new. It's sometimes sparse, sometimes chaotic; both upbeat and mellow. There's been some excellent records released in 2011 and this original and inventive offering from Wu Lyf is one of the best.

Just a quick word about this version of Wu Lyf's 'Go Tell Fire To The Mountain'; it is EXACTLY THE SAME as the other version (white background, colour picture in the centre) released last year. It contains all ten tracks (despite Amazon - at time of writing - only listing the first six) with the only difference being the packaging: instead of a cardboard book-style case (with a slightly annoying 'spine' that could bend and damage easily, especially in the post) this version offers a fold out digipack affair with an arguably cooler photo on the front. Aesthetics aside, there is NO DIFFERENCE WHATSOEVER. Just to clarify!

With WU LYF garnering considerable buzz before, during and after the release of their debut album Go Tell Fire To The Mountain, you'd be inclined to think they were doing something pretty special here and in truth they kind of are. The instrumental interplay between Joe Manning on Drums, Evans Kati on Guitar, Tom McClung on bass is pretty inspired. They tend to build their songs from the bottom up; starting off with either a martial drum beat, a few reverberated guitar chords, or some sombre organ creating a meditative atmosphere before ratcheting up a bundle tension by speeding up the tempo and increasing the volume. This may sound like a run of the mill description of any post rock outfit, but theirs to much of an emphasis on restraint and melody for them to be saddled with this tag. Oh and they've also got a singer, which is generally rendered a no no in that genre.

I conveniently forgot to mention Ellery Roberts before now because despite some nice organ playing his voice irritates the hell out of me. i wouldn't normally pull the "I can't listen to someone unless they can sing like Pavarotti card" but there's just something about his faux Tom Waits/Bruce Springsteen howl that i find terribly contrived. I'll admit the music despite being atmospheric does need a commanding vocalist in order to really bring these songs alive just not someone like Ellery. For the record i love Tom Waits and have a Fondness for the boss, but they wouldn't sound great if Explosions in the Sky or The War On Drugs were packing them up and that's basically whats happening here. I can only hope the band either find a new vocalist or their current lead singer learns to sing in such a way as to actually complement the music the band is creating here. If so, they maybe worth getting truely excited about. As it stands, i'll have to find a way to tune out the annoying wail if i'm ever going to really enjoy listening to this.

I heard this band being played endlessly by the regulars in a Spit and Sawdust Real Ale pub. Soundhound is a great invention!

Just finally got round to buying the CD, it not being the easiest thing to find in Independents.

Musically they remind me of late Factory - early Madchester. I am thinking of bands that hung around the fringes like the Stockholm Monsters and Paris Angels, even down to the very dodgy vocals and pretty rough production. However putting them in a posh studio and getting him to sing properly would I think defeat the object. Wonderful church style Organ underpins tribal rythymns and some very jangly Madchester guitars, all very pleasing on the ears. The vocals will divide opinion and probably limit their commercial potential. Even with the lyric sheet in front of me I cant work out what he is singing! Most of the songs have great choruses too but comprehension isn't aided by deliberately obscure song structures and a tribal chant like delivery which frankly is pretty close to the style of Black Metal vocals!

Incidentally lyrically it is very good rather rebellious in tone, very intense, definitely some sort of call to arms.

At the moment I cant stop listening to it. You could be very cynical about the almost FGTH style marketing Schtick but its the intentional anti-commerciality of the vocals coupled with what are basically very strong indie garage pop songs that convinces me they are the genuine article. In the context of all that I also don't think there's a duff track on it, and Concrete Gold and Dirt are really pretty special.