The Sounding Board
A weekly column where New Music Tuesdays live on. Conversation is encouraged in the comments.
Every Tuesday, the Sounding Board is a space for a short-ish review of a recent-ish release and conversations about new-to-you music. We’ll get things started with a write-up about a newer, likely under-heard album, and invite you to share your music musings in the comments.
WU LYF’s rise was meteoric, but the Manchester-formed foursome appeared to burn up spectacularly while hurtling across the blogosphere.1 Nearly 14 years later, the self-described “heavy pop” band has returned like a long-traveling comet to add a distinctive blaze to 2026’s sky.2
WU LYF formed in 2008 and began to build buzz around the turn of the decade, when well-received gigs and strong singles earned the quartet plaudits from the music press on both sides of the Atlantic.3 The band was adept at stoking that spark of attention. An aversion to engaging in typical publicity efforts, an inclination toward hiding members’ faces, a lack of presence on freshly ubiquitous social media platforms and an embrace of cult-adjacent stylings combined to create an aura of intrigue that was irresistible to people who wrote about indie rock.4 Plus, the tunes were solid, so interest continued to build around the willfully mysterious Mancs in the lead-up to their excellent debut album, Go Tell Fire to the Mountain. By the time it arrived in June 2011, the album felt like required listening. Whether the long-player was feted as Best New Music, or subjected to mythos-puncturing backlash, the gold-hued yearning conjured by its spacious sound, rapturous reverb and almost inscrutable lyrics was the sort of thing people who wrote, read and/or talked too much about music had strong opinions about.
A little over a year after WU LYF’s triumphant debut, the band suddenly disbanded — seemingly acrimoniously. It was a development marked by the simultaneous release of a new song and a statement from vocalist Ellery James Roberts that included the terse sentence “WU LYF is dead to me.” It was a surprising and lamented development that was followed by years of disparate solo projects,5 reflective interviews and dwindling hopes that there would ever be another WU LYF album.
Signs of a real return emerged last spring when the band’s website was updated to include a countdown, culminating in the release of a new single and a few live shows. Roughly a year later, and with the dramatic breakup 14 years in the rearview mirror, the long ellipse of the WU LYF’s path is once again intersecting with our observable reality, thanks to the release of A Wave That Will Never Break.6 WU LYF’s second album doesn’t radiate quite the otherworldly brilliance of the band’s previous long-player, but it is still among this year’s musical bright spots, and not simply because it exists.
A Wave That Will Never Break pulls off the nifty feat. It’s an exceptional art-rock album that is unmistakably by WU LYF and also uses its seven songs to gently redefine what a WU LYF album sounds like. Band-defining features, like anthemic song structure, Roberts’ arresting yowl, Evans Kati’s emotive guitar, Tom McClung’s prominent, hyperkinetic bass playing and Joe Manning’s versatile, frequently busy drumming are fully intact. However, one difference is immediately apparent: The cathedral-rattling reverb synonymous with Go Tell Fire is essentially absent from A Wave.
That’s for the best. Going back to that well would have felt like a gimmick, and there is now a clear delineation between WU LYF’s first and second albums. The new, clearer sound allows the band’s musical chops to shine throughout the album. The way organ rises like morning fog to meld with an electric surge low-end and funky distorted guitar squiggles on bait-and-switch single, “The Fool,” is singular and divine.7 The nearly 11-minute epic “Tib St. Tabernacle,” which is the connective tissue between A Wave That Will Never Break‘s stronger, livelier first half and the relatively tranquil denouement of its final songs, is an even better example. A song that sprawling needs a strong showing from absolutely everyone to succeed, and WU LYF is up to the task. The track’s pairing of dark poetry with spare-to-raging slowburn is ultimately spellbinding. Not every song is outstanding. “Wave,” a gentle ballad-turned-hymn that features both a protracted moment of silence and soaring guitar, throws too much at the wall to truly succeed, but WU LYF sounds as tight and polished as could be expected under the circumstances.
The production change makes Roberts’ lyrics much easier to understand. He’s still prone to some “Even Flow”-style syllable eruptions that can be difficult to follow, but it generally doesn’t require much effort to grasp what he’s singing about. This new level of comprehension is a mixed proposition, but ultimately a good thing.
It’s difficult to write about all-consuming emotion or big-picture philosophy. It’s even hard to set those musings to rhythm — especially if you’re prone to eclesiastical turns of phrase. So, there are a few clunky lines on A Wave That Will Never Break that might have been washed out in the band’s earlier work.
Album-opener, “Love Your Fate,” includes the kind of dopey “I’ve got a Dark Angel inside of me/ She sings with my voice of a world we can’t see,” while “Robe of Glory” offers up the befuddling quatrain “Why’d you feel you’re not enough?/ Why’d you feel so hard to love?/ You’re very sexy/ In your Robe of Glory.” However, Roberts is a gifted sloganeer and has a knack for delivering simple, somewhat contrived phrases in such a way that they hit with maiming force. “Why do we make it so hard/ When all I wanted was to love you” is a bog-standard love song sentiment, but when Roberts sings those words on the beatific “Letting Go,” he makes it feel like a hard-worn insight and legitimately affecting. The same talent changes the adage “it is what it is” from a verbal shrug into a shrewd assessment of reality. Plus, there are a few stunners among the more lofty-minded lines, and it is most decidedly for the best that they can be heard in tandem with the music.
Again, “Tib St. Tabernacle” is the standardbearer. “Who are we?/ But Sons and Daughters of generational trauma/ Who’ve abandoned our power/ In the absence of love/ Who are we? Who are we?” is simply an incredible series of words to put over keys and guitar swelling with newfound intensity. Better yet is the one-line observation (and Alice Walker paraphrase) delivered amid ratcheting musical intensity that frames rocking out as an act of transcendence and rebellion: “These hard times call for furious dancing.”
It’s impossible to imagine any other band making these creative choices — setting those words to that music. The feeling of witnessing a singular alchemical effort is one that pops up throughout A Wave That Will Never Break. It cements the album as an ultimately successful reunion album for WU LYF, despite a smidge of unevenness. Plus, there are at least intermittent opportunities to engage in furious dancing.
About the writer
Ben Hohenstatt
Ben Hohenstatt is an Alaska-based dog owner who moonlights as a music writer and photographer.
For more information, consult your local library or with parental permission visit his website.
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The Sounding Board
A weekly column where New Music Tuesdays live on. Conversation is encouraged in the comments.
The Sounding Board
A weekly column where New Music Tuesdays live on. Conversation is encouraged in the comments.
The Sounding Board
A weekly column where New Music Tuesdays live on. Conversation is encouraged in the comments.
The Sounding Board
A weekly column where New Music Tuesdays live on. Conversation is encouraged in the comments.
The Sounding Board
A weekly column where New Music Tuesdays live on. Conversation is encouraged in the comments.
Department of
Conversation
What did we watch?
Twin Peaks, S2 E6 – more of Harold Smith’s grating plot here and the scene with James and Maddy talking by the ridiculously picturesque lake maybe leans a little TOO far into soap opera dialogue, but the rest of this episode is pretty fantastic, with some exceptionally insincere work from Richard Beymer as he reacts to Audrey’s rescue, Bobby and Shelley drunkenly making out in front of a comatose Leo, andmaybe Josie’s best scene of the whole series when she trades threats with Ben. Also the first appearance of Gordon Fucking Cole, immediately incredible. The One-Armed Man steals the episode late on though with his mad theatre-actor intensity after the cops withhold his medication and allow MIKE to take over.
Is this when Leo is comatose in a party hat?
It is indeed, and he gets a faceful of cake! Very dark stuff, couldn’t happen to a nicer guy
The Kids In The Hall, Season Five, Episode Fourteen
“What do you think of all this madness happening in LA, eh?”
“Rollerblading?”
“I thought I was holding my cards close to my chest.”
“Oh yes, you just had them the wrong way round.”
“I’ve never heard of a bleeding ear as a cold symptom.”
“Is this about the ear?”
“I was on the beaver patrol.”
“One woman even bit my thumb!”
“You guys ever fired your guns in anger?”
“You mean at each other?”
An extremely rare Buddy Cole sketch where he doesn’t just monologue!
“I can still perform marriages as long as no homosexuality is performed during the ceremony. It’s so I won’t come on to the groom.”
“It’s the symbolism that’s important.”
“I do love a good symbol. It’s the only instrument I can play.”
Using Rush Lumbaugh as a bible in a gay marriage is fantastic.
“We gather here today, under the eyes of God – the fat black lesbian in the sky – to unite these two men.”
“I’m not bitter. I’m just lashing out over the recession.”
“You don’t know how happy you’ve made us, we’ve been waiting so long to have sex.”
“This scene was written in haste.”
“Now, take those rubber boobs off and have a seat.”
I’ve heard of this sketch! Did not realise it was this show.
“I’m not apologising to no car.”
Slow Horses, “Old Scores,” “Strange Games,” and “Hard Lessons”
Finished S2 last night and rolled right into S3. We’ve been pacing ourselves but had a little extra time last night, and this is such a good stretch that we couldn’t resist a mini-binge. Katinsky’s core motive is revealed, and fascinatingly, he’s Lamb’s true opposite number: devoted, even after all this time, to avenging his fallen joe. Their quiet confrontation is the core of the episode, with great humanizing details–Lamb’s complaint about pointing a gun for more than five minutes being murder on his wrist at his age–and some deftly evoked past horrors. The team secretly installing the plaque for Min (and Lamb leaving a card for Dickie as well) is really moving. In a weirder and much funnier way, so is River admitting his fuck-up about the Code September. Ownage: the Lamb-Katinsky confrontation, Louisa screwing a belt buckle into a bullet wound.
Series 3 is off to a very strong start as Catherine gets snatched, River gets pulled into a ticking clock “do this or she dies” scenario where he has to break into the Park, and everyone runs around trying to do investigative work. (And Marcus and Shirley also stop for ice cream, which is endearing.) There’s a hitch here that Lamb eventually figures out, but it takes a while and a lot of worrying. Some really good comedy (River saying he’ll try to forget Hobbs talking about jerking off to his humiliation, and also just River’s heist in general) and camaraderie here. And Shirley bitch-slaps Roddy.
Elementary, “One Way to Get Off” – A brutal robbery and murder has all the hallmarks of a case Gregson closed years earlier. Did the wrong man go to prison? As it turns out, no, this was part of a scheme by the killer and his heretofore unknown son to make it look like he was framed. But it’s a near thing, in part because Gregson’s partner at the time did cook some evidence to frame a guilty man. By and large this show leans into “copaganda” but every so often, it does at least admit (at least some) cops can be pretty terrible. Though not Gregson, of course. Also, Watson goes to the rehab facility where Holmes had been to dig up more about him, and learns very little. But does finally get Holmes to admit that this woman Irene Adler is dead. The beginnings of an arc are visible but just barely. Guests include Keith Szarabajka as the killer and Callie Thorne as the ex-partner,
Frasier, “Trophy Girlfriend” – Niles ends his unsuccessful squash partnership with Frasier, leaving Frasier to team with attractive gym teacher Jeanne Tripplehorn. But when he sees her unknowingly bully a student, flashbacks of his own cruel gym teacher overwhelm him and when he looks at her, he can only see Bob Hoskins! A surreal and somewhat hard to believe plot, but Hoskins, using his Eddie Valiant voice but also acting feminine, has a ball. There is also a surprisingly good scene where Roz and Felicity Huffman bond by being cruel to each other (the way Roz did with Niles early on). Oh, and Martin cannot believe his son won a sports trophy, so let’s let him revel in the moment.
The Chair Company, S1E3 – I suspect this show hits for a lot of people because it gets to a basic frustration in societies now – everyone makes mediocre crap and there is no accountability for it – to the extent that it’s outright text with Ron. Another is how quickly people capitulate to what’s perceived as popular opinion and shirk responsibility; having a nod to football in the mall kind of makes sense and is also done merely to stop any backlash. Ron meanwhile breaks a promise to his son in order to get out of being honest with his wife. More uncanny images including an old woman in the dark crying out for popcorn (“Those are chips, she wants popcorn!”) If there’s a weak link, I think it’s Robinson in part because he has such a specific schtick and sometimes that clashes with the material. Could picture a Stephen Root type or even Patton Oswalt killing this.
What did we listen to?
1001 Albums, etc. – couple of weeks of progress, since I wasn’t around last week.
Abdullah Ibrahim – Water from an Ancient Well: South African jazz, why not. Kinda smooth and a little background-music-y but the production is really gorgeous and clear which helps.
a-ha – Hunting High and Low: great stuff, excellent pop band with really solid album tracks to back up the big singles.
Tears for Fears – Songs from the Big Chair: never been a big Tears for Fears fan, compared to a-ha their sound feels a little watered down and mushy somehow. Head Over Heels is a really good song though.
Dire Straits – Brothers in Arms: again the “music for audiophiles” production is kinda undeniable, this is a really good sounding album even if it’s exclusively made for middle-class dads. I almost like some of it, I quite strongly dislike some of it, I always forget that the album version of Money For Nothing is full of slurs.
Prefab Sprout – Steve McQueen: I rarely click with this kind of music where people stroke their chins and admire the MATURE SONGWRITING and CRAFT of it all, same again here – pleasant, gentle adult pop music that doesn’t really stick with me.
Mekons – Fear and Whisky: never really heard these before, was expecting kinda punk / post-punk but didn’t realise they had a kind of country / folk influence, and were pretty nuts. Good stuff, really interesting if somewhat uneven album.
Big Black – Atomizer: feels like a mad thing to drop into a list like this, like much Albini stuff I admire how uncompromising and abrasive it is but over an album lengh I find it a little fatiguing. I’m more into Shellac but obviously Kerosene is a banger.
Suzanne Vega – Suzanne Vega: folkier than expected, having only really heard the big singles. When she’s doing “Joni Mitchell but not as much” this isn’t that impressive but the songs that lean more towards pop hooks are great, really nice guitar + synth production too.
The Pogues – Rum, Sodomy and the Lash: didn’t really get into this, I quite like their “Irish reels, drunken man” sound in small doses but over an album the only real standout was the track where a different vocalist pops up for a welcome change of pace.
Kate Bush – Hounds of Love: first half is packed full of classics, second half is wonderfully mad. Massive blind spot that I’d never heard this in full before, it’s excellent.
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Blank Check – haven’t managed to catch up on any Peter Weir blind spots yet but enjoyed the episodes on the films I have seen, Picnic and Witness. Jane Schoenbrun and Amanda Dobbins are both very enjoyable guests.
Screen Drafts – enjoyed the “Nuns” episode, I’m always drawn to these episodes about specific themes that span genres. They picked the correct #1, and added Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison to my watchlist. I was surprised Benedetta didn’t make it in though. The “George A. Romero” episode was fun too, two very knowledgeable first-time guests, although it’s the kind of ranking where there are few surprises beyond a certain point.
My two recent Screen Drafts listens as well! Ditto on Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison, and I was pleased to see The Trouble with Angels make it on there.
The Romero episode convinced me to watch The Amusement Park.
I outright requested “Nervous Breakdown” on my local station because they played Bon Iver and Dire Straits very close together, what, do you want me to pass out at work? Convinced Mark Knopfler would shrink into a fetal position if he ever heard a punk song.
Check out Mekons, So Good It Hurts. The record where it all comes together, and has the beautiful downer, “Ghosts of American Astronauts”
Fantastic song. “John Glenn has cocktails with God, Nixon sucks a dry martini…”
Huh, surprised they didn’t go with Songs About Fucking for Big Black, it’s the obvious choice but also the correct one (although Atomizer does rule). And previous sentence aside, I have a soft spot for Mark Knopfler. However, I am legally obligated to point you toward his Billy Carter-esque brother and his much harder rocking theme song for the cheesy action flick Laser Mission, which is far catchier than it should be:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvQze6iRgfk
We Hate Movies’ ep on The Island of Dr. Moreau which was pretty funny, especially the Brando impression that openly veers into Louie Andersen. I also started going through Knifepoint Horror’s archive, good stories though the narrators could be a little scarier in the delivery imo.
Quieter on the music front but this Carmen McRae song “Spring Can Really Hang You Up The Most” is a fantastic and timely jazz number, just right for this season if you’re a bit blue. Maybe my next project will be going through the Jimi Hendrix discography.
I’ve been playing Sarah Vaughan’s version of “Spring Can Really Hang You Up The Most”
Heh, this came up because I was listening to Vaughan, I should give that a whirl.
Genuinely surprised by this album, its energy, its propulsion. They lock into some wonderful grooves. Is that guitar lick a nod to Born to Run towards the end of The Fool?