Why? synthesizes styles the way its membership synthesizes identities. Why? began as the stage name of Yoni Wolf, the son of a messianic rabbi and an art book editor from Cincinnati. Yoni got his start writing songs after he discovered his father’s old four-track recorder in the basement of his synagogue, and his resulting love of recording music would make him first an art school dropout and then a founding member of the anticon collective. Yoni’s childhood was unorthodox by any standard, but his white-collar upbringing and Jewish ethnicity defy every hip-hop stereotype. Why?’s lyrics generally de-emphasize or ignore his personal background in favor of more general themes, and he has always been an artist who is incidentally Jewish, rather than a Jewish artist. However, his music is not entirely ignorant of his unique story -- on his debut album, "Oaklandazulasylum," Yoni rapped about how he "always wanted to be the voice of the streets / but my father was a rabbi and my mother made beats, / I mean, books." Jewish art school dropouts aren’t gangsta, and this in part explains why Why? initially developed an esoteric, less accessible style.
"Oaklandazulasylum" was both defiant and defiantly experimental, but "Elephant Eyelash" adapts Yoni’s style to a poppier sound, expanding his appeal beyond the pretentious hip-hop underground. Why?, no longer a solo act, now includes Doug McDiarmid on keyboards, Matt Meldon on guitar, and Yoni’s brother, Josiah Wolf, on drums. This traditional rock instrumentation delivers the traditional rock sound you’d expect, ‘70s psychedelia (à la Brian Wilson) appropriately adopted and adapted for the 2000s.
Yoni’s vocals rise comfortably to the top of the mix, and he speaks, sings, and raps with such variety that it sounds as though Why? has four or five vocalists taking turns from song to song, or, occasionally, verse to verse, albeit it not in the style of the bouncy white-boy rap of the Beastie Boys or lapsed Canadian "favourites" Sum 41. Instead, Why? sings pop songs that occasionally build into rapped bridges or choruses, a style that is exemplified on the standout "Gemini (Birthday Song)." Here, a gentle piano melody backs vocals that segue into a chorus before building into a slow, heartbreaking rap bridge: "When we’re on different sides of the globe / I thought we’d keep our veins tangled / like a pair of mic cables, / and if there ain’t enough slack to reach / that we’d solder them together / ‘cross oceans they’d stretch." Why?’s tendency to mix vocal styles works to mixed effect, as in "Crushed Bones," "Elephant Eyelash"’s first track. ` Although the song is well-composed, it’s one that might be labeled "difficult," an acquired taste. The song begins with soft drums and a guitar melody as Yoni comes in with speak-singing vocals that give way to a highly enunciated oldschool rap chorus before Yoni adopts a deeper, more aggressive voice to deliver a brief but bruising four-line flow. The ultimate effect is impressive, but it lacks the immediate catchiness of some of Why?’s more rock-based songs. Elsewhere, the album takes a turn toward the more experimental, as with "Waterfalls," where an expansive bass, a nasal tenor, and a phlegmy baritone are intricately layered as they proclaim that "waterfalls leave smooth rocks -- when the river dries up / you can determine where a river once was just by examining rocks. / Your face never forgets a cry." Although the singing is unconventional, the song stays likable for its delicate piano line and exceptional production. Lyrically, Why? has a tendency towards the obtuse, and whether rapping or singing, the group generally eschews straightforward couplets and rhyme in order to focus on images. This gives rise to startling metaphors, like "I’m fucking cold like a DQ Blizzard" or "rain is millions of tiny speech bubbles unused," in "Yo Yo Bye Bye" and "Speech Bubbles," respectively. The pop gem "Sanddollars" [sic] features the roundabout but charming lines "you’ve got no god-hand in the when of a raindrop / and the paint that you used was waterbased," before settling into the wordplay of the chorus: "These are selfish times / I got shellfish dimes / and sand dollars." Altogether, "Elephant Eyelash" is an impressive release, combining musical traditions into a coherent and genuinely likable whole. Admittedly, a few, more experimental songs stumble, especially in comparison to the pop refinement of the album’s best tunes, but even these songs hint at the melody and charm of Why?’s most accessible songwriting. When Why? is at the top of their pop game, they are unstoppable, and their synthesis of musical styles makes Why? sound both highly original and engaging. Yoni Wolf could be the best singer-songwriteremcee around, and now he’s got the album to prove it 
Rob Thomas is a sophomore from Wichita, Kansas. He hasn't ever been in the band Matchbox Twenty, although he respects their work.