Wu (Hu) Lyf – a Band that Thrives on Being Strange

When I discovered the mysterious group known as Wu LYF, I immediately thought this was the missing bridge for post-rock: adding vocals to driven instrumentals with a contemplative tone. It’s not really post-rock, but the guitar spells echo-orchestration-galore. And its nice and layery that gives it a complete and powerful motion that bands like Saxon Shore and The Six Parts Seven pull off just as well.

The vocals of this band come from a grunting UK boy who would be a fellow to harness his elderly lung-cancer voice and trade it for his never-public adolescent eunuch voice. He seems to have modeled his larynx after Tom Waits (a complement in my book), and given a nice anthemic chanting prowess used by cheerleaders. And the inaudible enunciations..? Have you noticed that Bob Dylan mumbles alot in his later years? Well the singer in Wu LYF was taking notes. You can understand one or two words per song, and it works like a charm. It comes off as utterly ridiculous, but despite the fakkt etru idoss slurriwrds. issoun real gud inur eaarh!!

What came to a surprise is that bassist Tommy McClung busted out a swinging lead vocal on his version of  “Swinging Party” by The Replacements during Wu’s recent Seattle concert at The Croc (poor quality capture below). As a major Paul Westerberg fan, he did the song justice, breaking the gutteral mood of typical Wu LYF with a sharp, but tender cover song.  And apparently, the bassist has been recording demos under the moniker Francis Lung. He oughta record his ‘Mats cover as well.

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