A year and a half after releasing the acclaimed Alopecia LP, WHY? returns with their fourth album, Eskimo Snow (released Sept. 22, 2009). The two records are each other's perfect foil: While last year's release found Yoni Wolf and the gang delivering a tight set of intricate rhymes, live loops, slurred hooks and acerbic wit, Eskimo Snow offers a sung, sobering take on mortality that unfurls in lush waves of Americana and pop-infused psych-folk. Pre-mixed in Nashville by Lambchop's Mark Nevers (Silver Jews, Bonnie Prince Billy, Calexico) and worked over by Alopecia engineer Eli Crews, this album is WHY?'s most live-sounding yet - a shadowy and sprawling piece as intimate in subject matter as it is handsome in timbre.

WHY? - These Hands / January Twenty Something

WHY? - These Hands / January Twenty Something from anticon. on Vimeo.

On his debut album, WHY? multi-instrumentalist Josiah Wolf offers up a rare solo work with true legs of its own. His voice deep and straight at times and impossibly fragile at others, Wolf deals both in visual snapshots that illustrate the wistfulness of a mundane moment, and canny excavations of those poignancies that lie beneath the surface: tough triumphs, tougher truths, and outright failures. Wolf's lean poems are set to an autumnal mix of warm folk and easy psychedelia played out (by Wolf alone) on guitar, vibes, kalimba, Hammond organ, bells, bass and drums to name a few. The end result is a sort of chamber pop minus the showy sweeps - virtuosity without the virtuoso - making Jet Lag as impressive in its subtle execution as it is a timeless, heartfelt listen.

Josiah Wolf - "Ohioho"


WHY? & Josiah Wolf

05-27 - Vancouver, BC - The Biltmore Cabaret
05-28 - Portland, OR - Wonder Ballroom
05-30 - Eugene, CA - WOW Hall
06-02 - Oakland, CA - New Parish Of Oakland
06-03 - Pomona, CA - Glasshouse
w/ The Donkeys

WHY? Only

05-29 - Gorge, WA - Sasquatch Festival
06-26 - Minneapolis, MN - First Ave %
07-01 - Calgary, AB - Dickens for Sled Island Festival
07-02 - Calgary, AB - Olympic Plaza for Sled Island Festival
07-09 - Cincinnati, OH - Mid Point Indie Summer Series @ Fountain Square
07-17 - Chicago, IL - Pitchfork Festival

% = w/ Deerhoof & Southeast Engine

Josiah Wolf Only

05/21 Chicago, IL Schuba's @
05/22 Minneapolis, MN 7th St. Entry ~
05/23 Fargo, ND The Aquarium
05/24 Billings, MT The Railyard
05/25 Missoula, MT The Palace
05/26 Seattle, WA The Vera Project %
05/31 Eureka, CA Nocturnum #$
06/01 Reno, NV The Underground (The Treehouse Club) #
06/04 La Jolla, CA Che Cafe <
06/05 Tucson, AZ Solar Cultural Gallery <
06/06 Phoenix, AZ Trunk Space <
06/08 Salt Lake City, UT Urban Lounge <
06/09 Denver, CO Hi Dive <
06/10 Lawrence, KS Jackpot Music Hall <
06/11 St. Louis, MO The Firebird <
06/12 Bloomington, IN The Bishop <
06/15 Buffalo, NY Mohawk Place
06/16 South Burlington, VT Higher Ground
06/17 Northampton, MA Iron Horse
06/18 Philadelphia, PA Kung Fu Necktie
06/19 Brooklyn, NY Knitting Factory
06/21 Pittsburgh, PA Morning Glory Coffeehouse

% = w/ AU
$ = w/ Citay
@ = w/ Serengeti
< = w/ Cars & Trains
~ = w/ Dark Dark Dark