Why?’s 2008 album, Alopecia, was a masterpiece of alternative hip hop. Based on singer Yoni Wolf’s monotone voice and gymnastical wordplay, it showed the band taking a step forward with music that matched the ingenuity of the lyrics. Its follow-up, Eskimo Snow, misses the immediacy and progressiveness of its predecessor. Recorded at the same time as Alopecia, Eskimo Snow sounds like a collection of rightfully deleted B-sides.

A

s a move to a more conventional pop sound, Eskimo Snow surprisingly forgets the catchy hooks that make pop music popular. The music is tuneless and inconsequential, leaving Wolf and his catawampus lyrics as the sole focus. The lyrics don’t match past efforts, a problem exacerbated by his delivery. Wolf’s rapid-fire flow and elastic rhymes are restrained on Eskimo Snow by slower songs and more singing. Rarely do affecting lines stand out, but words like “There should be new words hidden / In the shadow of his face / And like a wine glass / In a perfect pitch, he breaks.” The songs on Eskimo Snow suffer from a common problem in rap music–not enough verses and too many annoying choruses. In a genre centered on vocals and lyrics, repetition might make sales, but it doesn’t make great art and Why? misses on both accounts here.

The biggest problem with Eskimo Snow is the lack of rapping. Too many of the songs feature Wolf’s sing-song voice which has limited range and sounds ludicrous when considering he’s singing about goofy things like “I wanna speak at an intimate decibel / With the precision of an infinite decimal / To listen up and send back a true echo” in “This Blackest Purse.”

Yoni Wolf remains a distinct voice in alt-rap. Why? plays as a live band on record and in concert, which gives them a unique sound in hip hop. While Eskimo Snow disappoints, hopefully Why? will continue to expand their sound like they did on Alopecia.

Two Stars Out of Five