WU LYF - Go Tell Fire To The Mountain

Wu Lyf (World Unite Lucifer Youth Revolution) are a fresh out of the box indie rock phenomenon. After shunning the advances of various hipster labels of the land they've confidently stepped up to the plate with their own L Y F imprint (with assistance from Universal) to release this ultra confident, radio-friendly slab of 'heavy pop'. Produced by Paul Savage (Mogwai) and recorded in a massive disused church in Manchester 'Go Tell Fire To The Mountain' stinks of youthful ambition and blind ignorance. Musically the group are going for a big ethereal sound not too dissimilar to Dutch Uncles fronted by an angry Tom Waits. In fact his vocal is sorta reminiscent of Samuel T. Herring (singer of Future Islands). He doesn't really reach the emotive heights that Future Islands are capable of but they give it a good try. They also find time to mix in the occasional afro-style rhythm (I use this phrase in the loosest possible way), a trait of almost all ambitious young indie rock bands of 2010/11. It's about time someone came up with a phrase to differentiate this crass aping of African rhythm and guitar work from the real thing. It's afrobeat devoid of any respect or love for the technique and it sickens me to hear it plastered all over the radio and the TV show. I blame Paul Simon and Vampire Weekend. They probably keep slaves.