WU LYF (World Unite Lucifer Youth Foundation) were a band hailing from Manchester, England. Describing their sound as ‘heavy pop’, the four-piece initially thrived and rose to indie-stardom by fabricating a sort of identity crisis of who or what the band/project actually was. A less abstract definition of their sound could entail ‘life-affirming indie-rock’, ‘joyously apocalyptic post-rock with wolf-like howls’ or any number of embarrassingly obnoxious combination of words. Beyond describing them in print, every song on WU LYF’s debut (and final) full-length LP, Go Tell Fire to the Mountain, soars over each progression laid out underneath them. On each of the 10 tracks, it was as if the guys were expecting the end of the world to be coming within a matter of minutes. Partial to the surreal imagery of vast open fields and beautiful destruction that could come from listening to their music, I was on board for all of this. At any moment whilst listening to the LP, I was willing to go and tell fire to the world, over the hills, over the mountain – in my car, at my desk, during dinner – it didn’t really matter.
But of course, WU LYF is now dead. Announced on November 24, a YouTube video with a previously unreleased track called “T R I U M P H” was uploaded by the band revealing many negatively held views on the trajectory of their career over the past two years. Only a few days after, they removed the video and deleted their Facebook account, erasing themselves from existence; and what a short existence that was. Along with many other ‘21st Century bands’, they became successful and buzz-worthy from smart usage of the Internet and social media. WU LYF were able to tour the world, perform on Letterman and end up on year-end lists in a short one-year span. However, does being a short-lived 21st Century musical act strictly mean you were able to quickly garner success and fame from using the Internet to your advantage? Or does it reflect a larger mentality that many new, young bands possess in this current musical climate?
Take, for example, Das Racist, who have also recently announced their break up on December 2. Seemingly appearing to be polar opposites, Das Racist’s Dapwell stated that the prolongation of not announcing their break up was for money reasons, a quick buck. This, contrasted to WU LYF’s break up (which contained a constant confirmation of their artistic integrity; the break up can be seen as having been that, or yet another act of opposition against the commodification of their music) actually shows an inherent similarity between the two bands splitting. New musicians/artists seem to have A.D.D. when it comes to staying with a band. Musical projects come and go more frequently than ever before (from Girls to Viva Brother [who don’t really count, do they!?]). This could be a direct result of the mentality that whatever is old and dull to merely dispose of it. Could that not be the same for bands? Instead of sticking it out, working through issues and tension, why not start something new? This is a good and bad thing. Good in obvious cases of MORE music from bands/individuals we enjoy. However, hardly any experience or material goes into these fast-lived projects until the members find new musical avenues to explore, new creative ventures to capitalize on. I think it’s only going to become more frequent as my generation of ‘plugged-in youth’ begins to make music.
Done / on to the next one, yeah?
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