We last wrote about Why Dogs Why last summer with the release of single ‘List of Fears‘, what we described as “a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it slice of hyperactive panic delivered without even a pause for breath.” The track was typical for a project who have made a name with, as we’ve put it previously, “tongue-in-cheek humour and razor sharp commentary on the banality of contemporary life.” New EP Homebody sees the LA group build on these foundations, full of buoyant energy and wacky lyricism, anchored by an underlying volatility and unease.
“I really wanna scream but don’t know if I can (and don’t know if I should),” explains opener ‘Scream’, a sub-minute number which hints at simmering frustration and lurking threat. “There’s a weakness in the structure / No strength left for me to muster.” The fresh tones of ‘(Driving on the) Wrong Side of the Road’ feel mismatched against such sentiments, apparently caught up in its own carefree motion, though a quick glance at the lyrics—with their disregard for stop signs and speed limits, a refusal to use headlights at night— see the mood tip from carefree into careless, the track’s momentum suddenly that of someone harbouring malicious intentions or something of a death wish.
Endangering pedestrians
Skidding to a hard stop
I’m facing off with a mid-sized sedan
I’ll bump into you at the topDriving on the wrong side of the road
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The languid ‘Your Cocoon’ is sedate in comparison, playing with the rich croon of a romantic summertime tryst, though again the lyrics hide something stranger. A tale of ennui, the dejection of those surrounded by things they cannot have, be it the future they imagined or the luxuries advertised. The frustrations of the previous songs having boiled dry, leaving nothing much at all. The title track follows with a more explicitly downbeat conclusion, a song of loneliness, guilt and regret which gets at the cruelty of the contemporary age. A time where we know too much, yet berate ourselves for not knowing more.
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Homebody is out now and available from the Why Dogs Why Bandcamp page.