WHY? - Moh Lhean [Expanded Edition] (2018)

The final words sung on the sixth album by WHY? are an apt place to begin: "Hold on, what's going on?" Because while there's much familiar about the oddly named Moh Lhean - mastermind Yoni Wolf's sour-sweet croon, his deadpan poet's drawl and ear for stunningly fluid psych-pop-folk-whatever arrangement - a great deal has changed in the four years that've passed since 2012's Mumps, Etc., an LP that honed the band's orchestral precision and self-deprecating swagger to a fine point. It's significant that this is the first fully home-recorded WHY? album since the project's 2003 debut. Made mostly in Wolf's studio and co-produced by his brother Josiah, the result is obsessive, of course, but also intimate, and flush with warmth and looseness. But the biggest transformation is a bit subtler. After years of eying his world, in part, with a cynical squint, Wolf here learns a new mode. While Moh Lhean never stoops to outright optimism, it chronicles our hero finding peace in the unknowing, trading the wry smirk for a holy shrug, and looking past corporeal pain for something more cosmic and, rest assured, equally weird.

Tracklist:
01. WHY? - This Ole King
02. WHY? - Proactive Evolution
03. WHY? - Easy
04. WHY? - January February March
05. WHY? - One Mississippi
06. WHY? - The Longing Is All
07. WHY? - George Washington
08. WHY? - The Water
09. WHY? - Consequence of Nonaction
10. WHY? - The Barely Blur
11. WHY? - This Old Kang (Open Mike Eagle Remix)
12. WHY? - Proactive Evolution (Nick Diamonds Remix)
13. WHY? - Easy (Baths Remix)
14. WHY? - January February March / One Mississippi (Paper Tiger Remix)
15. WHY? - The Longing Is All / George Washington (Greg Saunier Remix)
16. WHY? - The Water (Kishi Bashi Remix)
17. WHY? - Consequence of Nonaction (Astronautalis Remix)
18. WHY? - The Barely Blur (Ó & Bellows Cover)