BAND OF THE DAY: WU LYF

Hailing from my adopted hometown of Manchester, this four-piece ‘cult’ are not your average indie band (if they were I wouldn’t be bothering to write about them), nor are they your typical loud-mouth British band like Oasis or Kasabian, what they are is clever as they have masterminded complete mysteriousness and privacy on a level with Banksy. Not an easy feat in the digital age let me tell you.

Their name weirdly translates as ‘World Unite – Lucifer Youth Foundation’ whilst their song names are equally peculiar with ‘Spitting It Concrete Like The Golden Sun God’, ‘Go Tell The Fire To The Mountain’, ‘Lucifer Calling’ and ‘Lady parts Calling’ being just a few of them, all categorized under the genres Concrete / Soul / Thrash…

ï»¿And if, like me, you are intrigued by the mystery of this band, letting your imagination go into over-drive at their very being, well you are likely to end up trawling the internet for hours in a vain attempt to divulge who they are. The only insight into the band are the oddly profound riddles that they have posted on their site like:

ï»¿ï»¿ï»¿‘WU LYF is nothing, four dumb kids calling out heavy longings for a place to call home, two brothers greet two brothers and play heavy pop. I don’t feel at home in this place, like your hearts drunk on kerosene and all you need is a spark. A lil’ flare of Lucifer. And in blind faith they believe what they are told to believe and exploit your true mamma until her blood runs blue. The wind on the mountain laps tame, its wild years replaced by an air-conditioning unit, sleek and metallic, molded perfection. And in efficient regulation the people were conditioned and were told there’s no alternative son. To tell fire is to question, to bring fuel to the fires started by kids no longer blinded by spectacle glare. So go tell fire’.

These guys have their priorities right, music is the most important message they can make and the less they talk, the more we talk about them. Whether it is a carefully managed/ manufactured project or not remains to be seen, but for now, I think their music justifies what they do- it is atmospheric, moody and orchestral with gritty vocals from the lead singer Ellery. It is so powerful that they do not need to talk. And if they manage to pull off complete secrecy in the techno-celebrity-media age, then they are complete geniuses, and worthy of their privacy.

Notoriously shy of perfoming and playing gigs only serves to enhance the mystery even more, causing my intrigue to increase to epic proportions. But thankfully, they are going on tour in June so you can get the chance to see what all the hype is about and try to find out whatever bit of information you can to share with the world. ï»¿ï»¿These guys are one to watch, mark my words.