Song Recommendation: “A New Life is Coming” by WU LYF (2025)
If you’re of a certain age, there’s a certain pipe organ riff that instantly sets your nostalgia gauge off and reminds you of earlier, hazier indie-rock days, before algorithmic lists, before endless Grey’s Anatomy needledrops, before it really dissolved into nothing as jangle shout-and-clap poprock took over and then it was all up for grabs by the mid-2010’s…before all that, Wu Lyf inhabited a very particular niche in indie rock when they released their first (and only) full-length record in 2011, and, like certain, earlier permutations of "that" band (e.g. your Velvet Undergrounds, your Televisions, your Neutral Milk Hotels, etc.) they left us with small but extremely potent body of work. Go Tell Fire to The Mountain is just one of those records that I didn’t put on often, but when I did, it always hit so hard and left me exhilarated and exhausted with the potential for guitar music at that time.
And then, after a break-up and years of silence, we receive a new single that from its hopeful, grandiose sound to its title seem to imply that a return to artistic output is imminent from this long dormant band. “A New Life is Coming” is a spectacular return and is as heart-stoppingly beautiful, emotional and right at the edge of being-over-the-top as anything on their now 14 year-old debut. And while the chorus is sing-along catchy and the mood almost operatically joyful, there’s some righteous anger towards a silent god and some serious grappling with mortality and one’s own responsibility to the future generations that creates another knockout song from masters of the form. “Have all the good gods gone and left us to fend for ourselves? Hey, do you still care?” singer Ellery Roberts croons passionately before shouting to the heavens, “I pray for something. You do nothing!” But then he looks inward, “on our knees in the ruins, we become seeds that future generations have new lives to lead. A new life is coming!” Here's hoping a new recording is also coming.
And then, after a break-up and years of silence, we receive a new single that from its hopeful, grandiose sound to its title seem to imply that a return to artistic output is imminent from this long dormant band. “A New Life is Coming” is a spectacular return and is as heart-stoppingly beautiful, emotional and right at the edge of being-over-the-top as anything on their now 14 year-old debut. And while the chorus is sing-along catchy and the mood almost operatically joyful, there’s some righteous anger towards a silent god and some serious grappling with mortality and one’s own responsibility to the future generations that creates another knockout song from masters of the form. “Have all the good gods gone and left us to fend for ourselves? Hey, do you still care?” singer Ellery Roberts croons passionately before shouting to the heavens, “I pray for something. You do nothing!” But then he looks inward, “on our knees in the ruins, we become seeds that future generations have new lives to lead. A new life is coming!” Here's hoping a new recording is also coming.
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