SPILL NEW MUSIC: WHY? SHARE “ONE MISSISSIPPI” VIDEO | ANNOUNCE 2018 U.S. TOUR DATES | ‘MOH LHEAN’ OUT NOW

WHY? SHARE “ONE MISSISSIPPI” VIDEO | ANNOUNCE 2018 U.S. TOUR DATES | MOH LHEAN OUT NOW

Joyful Noise Recordings

WHY? share a new music video for their single “One Mississippi”. When talking about the track  frontman Yoni Wolf said, “For me, this was exploring the levels of inner self you can go to to compartmentalize your problems without realizing that it’s habit and you get stuck in routine. Plus, I like old TVs.” The band has also announced 2018 U.S. tour dates which are below.

Their newest album Moh Lhean streamed on Consequence of Sound and was released on March 3rd via Joyful Noise Recordings. A follow-up to 2012’s Mumps, Etc., it’s the first fully home-recorded WHY? album since the project’s 2003 debut, made mostly in Yoni Wolf’s studio and co-produced by his brother Josiah.

While WHY? fans will certainly encounter familiar sounds on Moh Lhean — Wolf’s sour-sweet croon, deadpan poet’s drawl, and ear for stunningly fluid arrangements with obsessive attention to detail — the album also reveals that a transformation has taken place. The singer’s self-depricating swagger and cynical squint is replaced by a sense of peace in the unknowing; his wry smirk traded in for a holy shrug. This cosmic sense of calm and acceptance woven throughout the album is due in part to Wolf’s circumstances during the writing process: he suffered a severe health scare far from home, but rather than let it drive him to depression, he gained a stronger connection to the living. Album track “Proactive Evolution,” which features mewithoutYou’s Aaron Weiss, even samples Wolf’s doctors — the very voices that helped shape his new outlook.

Movement is a key theme of Moh Lhean — it’s a breakup album without a romantic interest. “Easy” plays like a ward against the old ghost who haunts “January February March,” while “George Washington” finds Wolf on a tiny watercraft, paddling away as that malevolent force stays ashore. “The Water” morphs a moody folk tune into some strange new form of full-band dub, while “Consequence of Nonaction” wavers between a quiet meditation for guitar, clarinet, and voice, and wild, sax-strewn art-funk. Psychedelic album closer “The Barely Blur” — which features Son Lux — explores the nature of existence, focusing on the infinite instead of leaving listeners with the macabre chill of death.

There’s something about the album that’s both ephemeral and distinctive, like something the Wolf Brothers might’ve heard on a praise album in their father’s synagogue as kids, or on some ’60s hippie LP they thrifted in their teens, or, perhaps, on the other side of the records they’ve been making their entire adult lives. While the meaning of the words “Moh Lhean” remain a mystery, they most likely have something to do with letting go, rebirth, coming home to a familiar feeling…or venturing out to discover a new one.

Tour Dates

2/2 – Cincinnati, OH – Woodward
2/3 – Cleveland, OH – Beechland Ballroom
2/5 – Brooklyn, NY – Music Hall of Williamsburg
2/6 – Hamden, CT – Ballroom at The Outer Space
2/7 – Cambridge, MA – The Sinclair
2/8 – Philadelphia, PA – Union Transfer
2/9 – Washington DC – U Street Music Hall
2/10 – Carrboro, NC – Cat’s Cradle
2/11 – Asheville, NC – Grey Eagle
2/13 – Atlanta, GA – Terminal West
2/14 – Tallahassee, FL – Club Downunder
2/15 – New Orleans, LA – One Eyed Jacks
2/16 – Austin, TX – Mohawk
2/17 – Dallas, TX – Trees
2/19 – Albuquerque, NM – Sister
2/20 – Phoenix, AZ – Crescent Ballroom
2/21 – Los Angeles, CA – The Regent
2/22 – San Francisco, CA – The Fillmore
2/23 – Portland, OR – Revolution Hall
2/24 – Seattle, WA – Neumos
2/26 – Bozeman, MT – The Rialto
2/28 – Denver, CO – Bluebird Theater
3/1 – Lawrence, KS – The Granada
3/2 – Minneapolis, MN – Cedar Cultural Center
3/3 – Chicago, IL – Lincoln Hall

Why?
Moh Lhean
(Joyful Noise Recordings)
Release Date: March 3, 2017

Moh Lhean Track Listing

1. This Ole King
2. Proactive Evolution
3. Easy
4. January February March
5. One Mississippi
6. The Longing Is All
7. George Washington
8. The Water
9. Consequence of Nonaction
10. The Barely Blur

Artist Links

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