Strange wordplay has long been a requisite for bands to get the attention of eccentric Bay Area label Anticon. Hell, even the label name has two variations (Anti-con or Ant-Icon, whichever way you see it). So it’s fitting that Why? calls Anticon home, despite the fact that they’re the only “rock band” on a predominantly left-field hip-hop label. Following up their highly praised Sanddollars EP, the just-released Elephant Eyelashes is a touching pop record that channels its lyricism through a hopeless-romantic folk singer who can flow tricky verses and punchy phrases like a battle MC (“Inhaling crushed bones through a dried up whiteout pen / and riding the backwards racer in hot June”). The nasally voice of singer Yoni Wolf (also a member of the Anticon group Clouddead) resembles that of They Might Be Giants singer John Linnell, and he uses this to his advantage. The result is a whimsical, poppy adventure that leads the listener past waterfalls, forest leaves and even San Antonio, all on the heels of a man who sounds like he’s had a clothespin stuck on his nose since puberty.
This article appears in Oct 20-26, 2005.