Genre: Alt & Indie, Heavy Pop (?)
Who: Ellery Roberts, Thomas McClung, Evans Kati, Joseph Manning
Home: Manchester, UK
Bio:
Every now and then, an artist emerges that is so unique, so pure, so immersed in their own sound it just blows people away. We've seen it before, most recently with bands like Arcade Fire, and I'm calling this one, as many already have. What is WU LYF? For the longest time, we had no idea. In fact, they were shrouded in so much secrecy that it drove their buzz. Coming together somewhere over the course of 2007 and 2008, they posted their early recordings on their band website. This drew the attention of the U.K. industry, as they began to rack in requests for record deals and such. Now this is where things get fun. They declined to make negotiations with anyone, although they did request a hefty 50 pounds for a simple demo, as if not being able to get their hands on WU LYF's melodic music wasn't mocking enough. Instead, WU LYF decided to take the music industry solely. Playing monthly at a An Outlet coffee shop, the band formed the Lucifer Youth Foundation, charging fifteen dollars for a bandit mask, two debut singles in Conrete/Heavy Pop, and a future discount to all WU LYF shows. In November of 2010, they chose an abandoned church as opposed to the conventional studio to record their debut release Go Tell Fire To The Mountain.
The Music:
As stated before, it is very hard to compare their sound to other bands because of how unique it is. With that being said, the style and feeling to their songs resemble Arcade Fire's anthemic atmosphere that is nearly present in every release, while the lo-fi-sounding instrumentations resemble that of Explosions In The Sky. The vocals, though, make the band. This is what separates them from the rest of the game. Listen to any of their songs, and you'll notice it immediately. Ellery Robert's shrieked wails hit home in every single possible way. Do we know what he's saying? No, most of the time we don't. But it doesn't matter, it adds to the uniqueness, the greatness, the complete atmosphere of the band. Because of this, it makes the moments of clarity when we do understand him so much greater, most notably during choruses of songs like 'L Y F' and 'Spitting Blood'. WU LYF is definitely a strange, once-in-a-lifetime band deserving of all the praise and buzz they've received. And the scary thing is, they have only one album under their belt. Whether they take the similar route of many underground bands and fizzle out, or continue to hone their sound, they are definitely a band to watch.
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