Record #135: Why?'s 'Elephant Eyelash'
Elephant Eyelash is the 2005 release from Oakland-based genre-benders Why? The centerpiece for every song on this record is the half-sung, half-rapped lyrical content from Yoni Wolf. Though I personally find it overly sentimental and thus cringe-worthy at times, Wolf’s rap-singing is thoughtful, emotionally revelatory and hyper-literate—sometimes his cerebral musings are especially clever and impressive. The music itself is mostly inoffensive indie-pop delivered with laid-back, groove-centric drums, acoustic guitars and poppy keyboard arrangements. Elephant Eyelash is especially unique and often insightful and catchy in its delivery, but I probably won’t spend much more time with this record.
