The prosaic subjects WHY? deals with on its newest album, Eskimo Snow (Anticon, 2009), run like melting streams through the album, slowly revealing a piece-meal portrait of the ever evolving avant-emo hip-hop artist Yoni Wolf. The themes in his lyrics are cut up and recycled, yet come together like the nostalgic line in “One Rose,” which includes the titular line to “A Sky for Shoeing Horses Under,” a memento from WHY?’s hair-raising 2008 release Alopecia. Wolf continues to rap about hands, horses and Ohio like Eskimos have words for snow.
Opening up for the enigmatic WHY? on Saturday, Oct. 24, AU (pronounced “Ay-you”) is the work of multi-instrumentalist Luke Wyland from Portland, Ore. AU started off with just two vowels and one man, but Wyland can swell his project to double-digit numbers, incorporating a full choir if he likes. Currently touring as a duo with Dana Valatka on drums (Jackie-O-Motherfucker), AU plays modern experimental folk with drifting and distorted song structures.
Below, Wyland explains what it’s been like touring with WHY?, AU’s shift solo to duo and the disparity between his live shows and his recorded work.
AZNB: First off, whom or who am I talking to, what do you do in the band and what is your most listened to album of this year?
LW: My name is Luke Wyland and I’ve been the main person behind the AU name since 2005. I’d say my most listened to album of the year has been The Snake by Wildbirds and Peacedrums.
You’re currently on a 30+ show tour with WHY?. How are the shows going and what has it been like having WHY? as a road buddy?
LW: It’s been great to be on tour with all the WHY? folks, such incredibly nice people who put on a damn fine live show. It’s actually been a pleasant surprise as I wasn’t super familiar with their work until seeing it in the live setting—definitely a band to see on stage.
Are the songs previewed on your MySpace page typically what you are going to be playing live? Are you going to be drawing more from AU or from Verbs?
LW: Most of the live set actually can be heard on our new EP Versions. We’re also playing some brand new tunes we’ve written in the last few months that are not on any recordings. The previous recordings sound actually quite different than the current live setup, as we’ve been touring as a two-piece for the last year and a half. But the tricky thing is a lot of the new EP is simply drastic re-workings of songs from both Verbs and our first self-titled album. I tend to approach the recorded versions of songs quite differently than the live renditions, so most people tend to be quite surprised by the live set if they’ve only heard the recordings.
I was looking on the Aagoo Records Web site and was confused by a Father Murphy CD. Is that your release? Tell us about that and Luc’s PeaoftheSea, which is included in the ‘fun-pack’ or AU discography.
LW: Father Murphy is this great band from Italy. That album is definitely worth checking out, gorgeous stuff. As for PeaoftheSea, that was my first album and was created while I was going to art school in Boston—definitely my first experimentations with writing songs, singing and general 4-track fun.
Tell us a little bit more about the progression of the band, starting out as a one-man project, expanding to incorporate whole choirs and finally where you are now, as a two-piece, and the differences between writing and playing as AU in different permutations.
LW: Up until this most recent EP this project has primarily been a solo project. When I was creating Verbs there was a lot of collaboration going on around that time and I definitely took advantage of the incredible community of players I was around at that point in Portland.
So we got to stage some pretty epic shows with 20+ people on stage—some of the most fun I’ve ever had on stage. But then touring became central and everyone who was previously in the band couldn’t commit to being on the road for months at a time so it was wheedled down to just Dana and I, which to be honest, I feel, is a much stronger and more consistent show since we’ve reworked most of the older songs and started writing together last fall.
I tend to feel the intimacy and spontaneity inherent in a smaller group allows for a more dynamic show. But I love it all and will most likely return to writing or performing for larger groups at some point. Right now the duo just makes more sense.
How much room do you leave in your live set for experimentation and improvisation?
LW: I’d say we definitely leave as much room as we can for experimentation and improv as we both come from a pretty heavy background of needing both in our live shows. Otherwise we’d get pretty horribly bored playing the same songs night after night.
You’re touring in support of your new EP Versions, which ironically reflects what you have been doing as a duo on the road for the past year. How do you think the EP turned out and do you think it accurately portrays what you have gone through?
LW: I’m quite happy with the EP, though it was recorded almost a year ago as of this point. We were dealing with a lot of confused people who either heard the recordings and then came to a live show or saw us for the first time live and then brought one of the older recordings home. Versions is also the first recording with Dana on it and it feels good to have something that represents the greatness of what he brings to this project.
In what direction do you see AU going? Is it pretty stable and productive with just the two of you? Where do you see your music going?
LW: It is at this point pretty stable and productive just being the two of us. Once we get back from Europe at the end of December we’ll take a pretty lengthy break from touring to make the next full length. In general the music has been going more of the rhythmic and energetic route in comparison to the more ambient and restful pieces of the previous recordings. All in all, couldn’t be happier with how everything’s going. Feeling pretty damn lucky.
WHY? and AU play with Serengetti and Polyphonic on Saturday, Oct. 24. Tickets are $12 in advance and $14 day of the show and doors open at 6 p.m.
