This is one of the most unique albums I listen to, and is incredibly difficult to describe so… Go me for picking it? It feels that trying to write about Alopecia is almost textbook dancing about architecture. How do you sum up this album without just quoting the lyric sheet and just walking off?
Why? are a mix of indie, folk and hip hop, and as far as I know, are the only band who are who sound anything like this. It’s almost funny just how far out of my comfort zone this album was when it was released back in the distant mists of 2008. And to be honest, it’s still pretty far from anything else I listen to today.
This is probably the first album I got into because of the Drowned in Sound Forum. It was an album that I listened to and was just confused about. It was just… different, so very, very different. But people on the forum were going nuts for it so I kept going back, to try and work out what the fuss was about and with each listen, something new would stand out. A wry lyric here, an interesting musical hook there, and the loud guitars on The Hollows. I rarely have time to give music this amount of time these days, but I really think missing this album would have been a loss for my life’s music experience.
To be honest with you, and I think honesty is the way forward with Why?, trying to explain this album has given me such a case of writer’s block. It’s put me back weeks from where I was hoping to be with this project. I thought about dropping it, subbing in a Misfits album that I love and could knock out a few hundred words in about 30 minutes. But fuck it, this album is great. It needs to be heard by more people, so let’s try.
The opening song The Vowels Pt.2 opens with a deep bass and a chain gang rattle for percussion and Yoni opens with
“I’m not a ladies’ man, I’m a landmine
Filming my own fake death
Under an ’88 Cavalier, I go
But-but-but-but, nothing but the rear bumper’s blown”
And you just wonder what the fuck are you listening to, but if nothing else he’s got your attention.
Yoni’s vocal delivery is also completely unique as far as I know. An American nasal drawl somewhere between singing, speaking and rapping but thankfully it’s not the Sprechgesang that’s been stinking up music for the last few years. The lyrics sound like a crazed stream of consciousness, but when you dig in you realise that amongst the strange ramblings, there are incredible, painfully confessional songs. This album has some of my all time favourite lyrics, and as I said earlier, it’s tempting to just quote them and leave, cause this man has a way with words like know one else I know.
Simeon’s Dilemma is probably my favourite song on the album and it opens with the lines
“Stalker’s my whole style
And if I get caught, I’ll
Deny, deny, deny”
Which leads up into a song from a stalkers point of view. And just as you’ve gotten used to the speak / sing vocal style Yoni switches to an actual falsetto. The man has range, he just chooses when to deploy it.
I was lucky enough to see them a few times on Alopecia’s tour cycle. They were amazing shows, but the crowds were unlike anything I’ve seen before or since. The audience stood still, gently swaying, eyes closed, mumbelling the lyrics to themselves, serene as Lotus Eaters while the band put on some of the most charismatic shows I’ve seen.
This is an incredible album. It shouldn’t be lost in the world’s musical churn so here we are, with me waving a little flag, saying that you do really need to listen to an album called Alopecia of all things, with that cover.
It’s so, so good.
I said that this review wouldn’t be all lyric quotes but lets leave with one that stuck with me for decades.
“Even though I haven’t seen you in years, yours is a funeral I’d fly to from anywhere.”
https://songwhip.com/why/alopecia2008
The ways of exile 