Exploring WU LYF's music doesn't expose much of the group either. What they call "heavy pop" comes out as reverb-rich, starry-eyed, and pleasantly unpolished power-pop/post-punk that's reminiscent of contemporaries Abe Vigoda and Male Bonding. Roberts, meanwhile, growls with the desperation of someone whose vocal cords are about to give out for good, and when intelligible (which is rare), his lyrics touch on faith and discontent without ever diving too deep. As McClung tackles a question about past press descriptions of WU LYF as an "art project" or "movement," his reluctance to answer indicates his band's serious preference for grays. "It's not up to us to declare what we are," he says. "It's up to us to be true to ourselves and for our output to be worthwhile." ^
WU LYF + WILLIS EARL BEAL | Brighton Music Hall, 158 Brighton Ave, Allston | April 28 @ 8 pm | 18+ | $15 | 617.779.0140 or brightonmusichall.com
Related:
The Big Hurt: Rock in a hard place, Tana French gets her characters where they live, Review: The Murder Trial of John Gordon at the Park Theatre, More 
- The Big Hurt: Rock in a hard place
Fear not, broke American: the music industry feels your pain.
- Tana French gets her characters where they live
Frank Mackey's life changed when he was 19. The year was 1985, and he and his girlfriend Rosie Daly were about to run away together.
- Review: The Murder Trial of John Gordon at the Park Theatre
Who knew? Everybody knows about that frisky, independent start by Roger Williams, and the first bloodshed of the American Revolution with the burning of the Gaspee , but who knows about the dispute between the lowly immigrant Gordon family and the prestigious Spragues, which resulted in the last state execution in Rhode Island, back in 1845?
- Review: Mirth and murder in Clue: The Musical
The board game Clue has been entertaining families since the end of World War II, when people were especially eager for distractions.
- Review: Gorey at the Athenæum, animation at MassArt
In Edward Gorey's old-timey illustrated books, parents leave on an excursion and never return, friends enter a tunnel and never come out, a mother falls ill and dies, a man driving around searching for his lost daughter runs over her with his car, a peculiar bird appears at a house and stays for 17 years.
- Review: The Lincoln Lawyer
As nondescript as its title, Brad Furman's slick legal mystery, adapted from a Michael Connelly novel, plays like an above-average TV pilot until it gets greedy and runs 20 minutes too long, with a few too many endings.
- Review: Envy
The MFA's Turkish Film Festival opens with Zeki Demirkubuz's stark and deliberate meditation on the title vice. Who envies who, however, becomes clear only gradually, and the reason for the malignancy remains, as in the case of Iago, inexplicable.
- Review: Paul
American excess replaces the British austerity vibe that defined the Simon-Pegg-and-Nick-Frost-starring genre send-ups Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz in this love letter to Reagan-era Spielberg.
- Authors talking: Spring readings in Boston
America’s best young novelist, Britain’s most popular mystery writer, a bearded indie rocker, and a dead master populate this spring’s mandatory literary events.
- Nancy Baym rethinks the music industry
In the wake of the recording industry's crash, a cottage industry has sprung up around rethinking the commercial future of music.
- Doing it ninja style
Take three notorious singer-songwriters and one famous author. Give them eight hours to write and record an eight-song album. Broadcast the session on the internet. Release the album online the next morning, and perform it live in front of an audience the following night.
- Less
Topics:
Music Features
, music industry, mystery, excess, More
, music industry, mystery, excess, music features, WU LYF, Less
