When you hear that an album was recorded in an old abandoned church, what kind of imagery does that conjure up? Do we think of a lone singer, acoustic guitar strapped on, whispering about ghosts into a small 4 track tascam? Maybe a band reverentially using this sacred ground to add resonance to a record about the weariness of life? In the case of purposely enigmatic band WU LYF, the answer is as simple as wanting to harness a particular sound, which was not working out in a traditional studio. The massively constructed Go Tell Fire To The Mountain lumbers along carrying everything in its wake. The sound reaches up and pulls you inside what feels to be some tangible area, where the sounds are visibly bouncing against the walls and striking everyone in reach.
Go Tell Fire To The Mountain feels huge. From the echoing, almost indecipherable vocals and thudding drums and church organ on stand-out track "Dirt" to the pure adrenaline chug of "We Bros.", WU LYF have taken the usual indie rock stand-bys and crafted an expertly intense free-for-all. And in this surge, the listener is invited along, with the band having no illusions as to where they are and who are with them. And as seemingly pretentious as these guys appear in real life, the music spread across these 10 tracks never crosses over into the kind of self-aware detritus which we've come to expect from bands who purposely court the ire of the press. With songs that feel as if they could indeed fill the empty space in a cathedral, the already mentioned recording atmosphere seems appropriate. After the public flamboyance wears away and these guys settle into that cavernous groove, Go Tell Fire To The Mountain stands high alongside the best releases of 2011, with its arms open, mouth wide, screaming for you to join in.
Tracklisting:
01. L Y F
02. Cave Song
03. Such a Sad Puppy Dog
04. Summas Bliss
05. We Bros
06. Spitting Blood
07. Dirt (listen to the mp3 below)
08. Concrete Gold
09. 14 Crowns for You and Your Friends
10. Heavy Pop
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