Why? – Alopecia (2008)

I love those moments when I randomly bump into interesting albums in a record store and I end up buying it without much knowledge of the album and it turns out to be a brilliant one. This is what happened with Why?'s Alopecia. In 2008, I was in Japan on a holiday with a group of friends from uni and on one day we were going round the record stores in Shibuya. When we stepped into one of the record stores, this album was playing in the background. It had just been released and it immediately drew me in. It was a strange mixture of indie rock and hip hop. I had never heard anything like this before. The album had a nice looking cover as well, so I felt confident to buy it. It turned out to be a brilliant album and I have ended up listening to it a lot. It's nice to have this great story behind the purchase and I will definitely remember forever where I got this album.



I don't normally listen to that much hip hop. This is because melodies are the single most important thing to me in music along with vocals and how they sound. Saying that, however, when hip hop gimmicks are used in a melodic album in a classy way, I really do enjoy that. Alopecia is probably the least hip hop oriented album of the California-based band Why? Later on I learned that quite a few of my friends in Helsinki, who are into music, and in particular into hip hop, knew about this band already. To them, this album was a clear message that Why? was moving away from their hip hop roots. It turns out that this wasn't actually true, because after another indie album Why? returned to making a bit more hip hop oriented music. To me, this album remains the best album this band has ever made. And as an indie enthusiast, I do like the most indie songs on this album the most.

The album starts strongly with a dark and beautiful song The Vowels Pt. 2. The sound of money on the background and the hip hop style beats draw you in. This is probably the best example of how you can combine those two musical genres in a beautiful way. These Few Presidents is more at the indie end of the spectrum. The very American sounding nasal fits in this song really well. The Hollows is a gorgeous song with plucking electric guitars and changing rhythms. Fatalist Palmistry is quite unsurprisingly my favourite song on this album. It's straight out indie rock with amazing melodies. The melodies almost remind me of some songs by The Smiths. The chorus is really catchy and this is also a good song to dance to on the indie disco dance floor. A Sky for Shoeing Horses Under is more in the hip hop end of the spectrum, but the background's blinking instrumentation reminds me of Arcade Fire.

It's not easy to find music videos for Why? as the name is so generic. Also, using the name of the album brings results of hair loss videos. I was still able to find one video, that I at least think is authentic. A video for A Sky for Shoeing Horses Under is a one-take video of people inside the house preparing to face the attackers from outside. The band is also playing inside the same house and the singer is mouthing the lyrics while walking through the house.

Why? is a great example of a band that can create something completely new by combining very different musical genres. I really like this album in particular. In addition to great sounds and melodies, Why? also has some excellent lyrics even if they are quite disturbing from time to time. At least they make the listener think about their meaning.

Listen to the album on Spotify.