WHY? – Sod In The Seed
Anticon: 2012
Sod in the Seed is a six-track sampling from Why?, an EP designed to serve as a sort of stop-gap in between 2009’s Eskimo Snow and Mumps, the band’s fifth full-length due out in October.
The album begins with frontman Joni Wolf rapping, “Let’s review some recent facts / I make decent cash. I’m a minor star.” It’s reassuring and comfortable in its familiarity Wolf spitting tightly wound rhymes in a polished pocket of indie-leaning instrumentation.
But things quickly go downhill, as Wolf’s lyrics grow so introspective and self-indulgent one fears his head might actually be up his own ass.
Hyper-realistic, and self-aware lyrics are one thing, but when someone insists on telling you they are being self-aware, it gets smarmy in a hurry. It is saying something when the sounds begin to grate over its scant 16 minute runtime.
“Probable Cause” is a one minute session on the couch of Wolf’s therapist, backed by a beat that could have easily come from a hotel bar cover band on a Caribbean island. “Twenty Seven” is an example of when “keeping it quirky” goes bad, kind of like Zooey Deschanel’s iPhone commercial. Oh, and Zooey Deschanel is name-checked here.
It’s that kind of record.
On the album closer “Shag Carpet”, Wolf rhymes: “I use the first person because it sounds more urgent/ but the truth is, I probably knew myself less than you did.” At the end of Sod in the Seed, we certainly know more about Wolf and Why? than before. Whether or not this is a good thing is up for debate.
2 out of 5