When a man in a Smithsonian Institute sweatshirt makes airplane gestures with his arms in front of a basement of 200 people, an odd sensation occurs. It's quirky. It seems unsettling, yet it captivates. It's Why? No really, it's Yoni Wolf, the front man of the Oakland band Why?, jiggling and gyrating and swooping his arms like an errant biplane about to dive into the crowd, crooning through his mustache "Even though I haven't seen you in years, yours is the funeral I'd fly to from anywhere," while his brother bangs simultaneously on drums and xylophone, the tubby bassist takes a swig of his imported beer, and the entire house shouts along. The neurotic, playful indie rock group Why? riffed on this vibe throughout their set. Such was the stage Thursday night at the Middle East Downstairs in Cambridge.
Like all shows at the Middle East, Why?'s show didn't start until 9:30 p.m. and surged deep into the night, after Charlie and all his trains had dozed off to sleep. The first of two openers, accordion-clad Dark Dark Dark began with a swift set of mournful yet capturing love songs. Lead singer Nona Marie Invie, with her Post-it note sized octagonal glasses (somehow matching the guitarist's glasses), her immense accordion filling her petite frame, and her chirp that sounds like a blend of Regina Spektor and Zooey Deschannel, wooed the crowd throughout her set.
The tone shifted from lurid to bombastic when Oregon duo Au stomped onto the stage. Featuring an absurdly talented drummer who laced each song with hypnotic tribal beats and singer Luke Wyland with a futuristic synth pad, Au enlightened the audience with its enigmatic brew of primordial indie. Wyland, a graduate of the Massachusetts College of Art, also won the audience over with his local anecdotes.
Just after 11:30 p.m., the five guys of Why? sauntered onto the stage and opened with their guitar-driven hit "The Hollows." Why? sounds like what taking a bath while watching Taxicab Confessions feels like: it's cleansing but dirty; it's in your face but cathartic; it's smooth, sudsy, and pristine but raw and gritty. The music does most of the work, but it's Yoni Wolf's uber-quirky yet penetrating lyrics that Why? distinct. Words like "I'm f-ing cold like a DQ Blizzard. You act like a slut but you're really a freezer," confuse and amuse as much as they enlighten.
While the band only played for about an hour, they packed each moment with fervor and angst and dance. Why? played most of its latest album Eskimo Snow, which was released on Sept. 22 - its most somber but melodious album to date. But the mood never faded to melancholy, as the kids sang along to each song, violently shouting requests between songs, and the band interspersed in sullen tracks like "January Twenty-Something" and "These Hands" with more rough and raw ballads like "The Vowels," and the rapper's delight "Good Friday." Yoni's dancing, awkward and bizarre as it was, pulsated out to the audience, who even sparked a mock mosh pit at one point. For the most part, however, the crowd remained warm, animated, and respectful.
After a rousing encore, including the seven-minute ballad "Gemini," the night ended around 1 a.m., leaving the crowd, just like Yoni, to swing its arms back home.
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