Yoni & Josiah Wolf (as WHY?) 04.17.11 Philadelphia, PA @ First Unitarian Church

This was the last of three Yoni Wolf solo shows three shows taking place in Philadelphia's First Unitarian Church this weekend, all three with opening support from Frances Quinlan of Hop Along. The space is small, not more than ten rows of pews, each seating three comfortably. The bands set up maybe four feet away from the first row. The extraordinarily intimate setting matched the purpose of the event perfectly And favorably eliminated both a crowd and the need for anyone to stand.

More with aesthetics: It was odd, seeing Yoni at his most put together. His hair showing no signs of the unruly curls that have pervaded WHY? promotional images since the cLOUDDEAD days; instead it is slicked respectably with product. His fairly characteristic mustache sits natural on has face, looking absolutely unnovel. It's the look of a man who might have things together: the same one who posted a picture to facebook of himself signing on first house a week ago..

But his words betrayed him, in the way they've made WHY?'s career doing. Dense, intricate internal rhymes characteristic of earlier WHY? material were matched by some powerful (and powerfully sad, chill-inducing) refrains. On the only item being sold at the merch table--a limited edition screen print--was written the phrase "I know with no uncertainty that I'm uncertain and I don't know." The line was the foundation for a chorus of a song in the middle of the set. Brutally effective, I felt myself wanting to sing along without knowing the words to sing. This question of "ok, but where next?" ran throughout the set, informing nearly all eight of the new songs.

With only two players, arrangements were unexpectedly sparse. Yoni mostly perched at a church piano that had fallen slightly out of tune, Josiah alternating between guitar and bass while operating a bass drum simultaneously. The songs were played with lots of thumping low end, drums keeping time layered with funk-inspired bass lines. Maybe rap-like, maybe not.

As mentioned above, the set (below, with some annotations, including fragments of lyrics so proper titles can be attached once these things have proper titles) was almost entirely comprised of new WHY? material composed between 2007 and now, to be recorded for the next WHY? record in May and June 2011. Stressed online, and again a song or two into the set, a strict rule against any recording was in place. And understandably so, but it's a bit of a bummer that no one will be able to hear these songs again for a few months. Or maybe more than a few, depending.

The hype is hard to handle, especially with the final product farther away than any of us would like. Doing this sort of trial tour so early is the makings for a tough, frustrating wait. In context, it's the highest compliment I can give the band as they and Snake return to the studio with completely new material for the first time in years.

Good luck, godspeed, etc etc. We're waiting to be blown away.

Further considerations: Someone managed to get hold of a setlist for one of these shows, so I am editing in what the setlist calls these songs. The set seems to be exactly the same, with phrases I remember matching up with the current "official" titles.


FRANCES QUINLAN

01. Freshman Year

02. Sally

03. Tibetan Popstars

YONI & JOSIAH WOLF

01. New - Paper

Features lyrics shown on a video Yoni posted on his facebook a few weeks ago when he was recording the album 5 demos.

02. New - Always

"like that"

03. The Vowels Pt. 2

From Alopecia (2008)

04. Half a Person

Smiths cover. Same arrangement as on this RadioK session.

05. New (My Most Intimate Geometry) - 27

I actually have this one on a bootleg from early 2009, performed a capella. It sounded really great with piano at the show. The title above is what I named it on the bootleg when I cut up the soundboard two years ago.

06. Brook & Waxing

From Alopecia (2008)

07. New - Distance

"keep distance"

08. New - Kevin

"I know with no uncertainty that I'm uncertain and I don't know."

09. New - Bitter

"liar pretends to confess"

10. New - Straw

"no, I am not ok, boys"

11. New - Mumps

"as ill as I am"

12-13. Pick Fights / Deceived

From the Rubber Traits CD-single / Dumb Hummer 7''. A really cool surprise. I've never seen either of these Rubber Traits/Dumb Hummer b-sides turn up on any bootleg or "almost live" album.

Encore:

14. Close to Me

Cure cover. Posted to the WHY? Myspace in 2008, but to be released on the forthcomng OIBrecords Split Series Vol. 5 this year.

15. These Few Presidents

From Alopecia (2008)

16. One Rose

From Eskimo Snow (2009)