WU LYF – Go Tell Fire To The Mountain

WU LYF – Go Tell Fire to the Mountain
LYF: 2011

Hype is a funny thing.

Not enough of it can be a death sentence and too much of it can mean an even swifter demise.  It can be both an electric zapper for social butterflies or a fiercely fought after line of demarcation.  Rarely, it seems, is it right.

In the case of WU LYF, the English band notably praised for its defiant dismissal of praise, the hype (I am happy to report) falls decidedly closer to the “justifiable” because the record is actually awesome.

The ballyhooed debut album from WU LYF (pronounced “woo life” and an acronym for World Unite! Lucifer Youth Foundation) was self-produced and recorded in an abandoned church and if this is already too “indie” of a narrative for you, let me just quickly re-iterate that the record is really, really good.

The church-turned-studio significantly lends to the atmosphere on opener “L Y F” and it’s immediately apparent it was not selected simply for aesthetics or storylines.  Elsewhere the primal vocals of Ellery Roberts reverberate widely in stadium-ready anthems (check album standout “We Bros”).

And while the lyrics, origins and song meanings are often obfuscated, what is clear is that WU LYF has dropped a surprisingly well-developed and powerful album.  The songs tend to echo the alt-anthems of, say, Wolf Parade, and the guitar lines find a most suitable setting for post-rock Explosions In The Sky-esque sound, but this is short-hand oversimplification.

Featuring various tempos and a wide array of cross-cultural influences, the record is far-reaching but still sounds cohesive.  It’s pop, but it still rocks.  It’s accessible but still has a punk-rock immediacy.  It shoots for the stars with its stadium-ready sing-a-longs but is still somehow rooted in DIY, word-of-mouth passion (see “Spitting Blood”).

To be blunt, Go Tell Fire… is a must-listen: a brilliant streak of white-hot light across a cluttered indie sonic skyline.  In this rare case, the hype is real.

You can stream “We Bros” below.

4.5 out of 5