Whether it’s lo-fi bedroom experiments, confessional art-school hip-hop, matured freak-folk, or anything between, the music Yoni Wolf has made as WHY? over the past quarter century seems to have one common denominator beyond his instantly familiar production style and near-mumbled vocals: a clear lyrical and musical sense of having been through some shit. His seventh album The Well I Fell Into falls perfectly in line with that history, recalling the lush indie-pop of 2017’s Moh Lean more so than his last effort released two years later, AOKOHIO. And its latest single “Jump” is among the lowest points on the record, with Wolf comparing himself to an abandoned car on the side of the road over somber piano chords.
“It’s a pessimistic song, for sure, but it’s at least a reaching out. It asks for help,” he shares of the new tune, before noting how it’s a little less depressing within the context of the full record. “It’s written from deep in trough state, but the songs around it on the album carry the hope and walk it home—so hang on,” he laughs. “I feel like our music is for people who’ve been through some shit and are still here trying to be better. Some songs—like ‘Jump’—are written from deep within that shit. But there’s always a sunrise after. There’s always someone around you who will call.”
The track arrives with a Scott Fredette–directed video that manages to recreate the wholly unique saunter of WHY?’s lurching instrumental style through reverse-filmed footage of Yoni ambling around the city backwards after enduring the car trouble referenced in the song’s hook. “Coming off a more technical video for ‘G-dzillah G’dolah,’ and a compromising bout of sickness for Yoni, he wanted to go DIY and raw and fast,” Fredette says. “We filmed this in three evenings, using one toy lens with one light, and edited it in several days (thank you, Evan Cutler Wattles). The only thing we did before we started filming was a motion test to see what type of walk looked best backwards. Very little planning, and made things up as we filmed. It wasn't precious, and that, I think, is good for WHY?”
Watch the video below (keep an eye out for Yoni’s brother Josiah and their other bandmate, Doug McDiarmid, busking under a theater marquee (shoutout MaXXXine, shoutout Bikeriders), and pre-order The Well I Fell Into here ahead of its August 2 release.
