WHY?’s Yoni Wolf discusses 10 influences on new album ‘The Well I Fell Into’
Yoni Wolf is back with a new WHY? album, The Well I Fell Into, out now via Waterlines. WHY? has shapeshifted a lot over the years, from art rock to hip hop to all kinds of uniquely-WHY? stuff in between, and on this album, Yoni says he was “very interested in classic songwriting. I want my songs to be able to be played unadorned by just one person and still hold up. Any production frills should only serve to elevate the song further without being relied upon to tell the story.” The album features contributions from Gia Margaret, Finom’s Macie Stewart, Lala Lala’s Lillie West, Serengeti, and Ada Lea, and there is indeed lots of classic songwriting on this album, but Yoni still finds ways to embrace his trademark eccentricities too.
Yoni recently discussed the album’s narrative, and now he’s spoken to us over email about 10 major influences on the album. Those include love, a protracted breakup, ketamine, weed, crossword puzzles, and more, and as you’d probably expect from Yoni Wolf, he’s got plenty of interesting stuff to say about just about every one. Read on for his list and stream the album below.
WHY?’s tour behind the album begins this month, with support from Baths on the first leg and NNAMDÏ on the second. That includes NYC’s Bowery Ballroom on August 23 with Baths. All dates are listed below.
**
10 INFLUENCES ON WHY?’s THE WELL I FELL INTO (by Yoni Wolf)
1. Love
Do I really need to explain this one?
2. A Protracted Breakup
I really went through the wringer on this one. Maybe I’m still going through the wringer. Nothing plays muse like the push and pull of unsettled affairs.
3. Ketamine
I shan’t mince words: I have a spot of mental illness. I always have. Nothing too scary. Nothing they’d write a thriller around. But it’s pervasive and effects every facet of my life. I’ve tried a lot of things to mitigate it but as many of you readers know well, the woes are tenacious. Prescribed ketamine might be the most profound chemical intervention I’ve tried. I know that’s a bold statement—and I won’t go as far as to say it works better than going on vacation to a beautiful Spanish beach town with the people you love the most, but let’s face it, most of us can’t afford to live a full time life like that. Ketamine’s not like the flip of a switch for me, but, I noticed that when I was doing a dose weekly or biweekly, I could sort of hang on to a feeling of possibility and let go of some shame and self loathing. I didn’t find it to be a permanent fix but when I was doing it, I was more resilient. And maybe it has had some subtle lasting effects. But it’s terribly expensive, otherwise I’d do it every other week.
Aaaaaaanyway, in regards to influencing the album, I would just say that it greatly bolstered my audacity to think big and reach outside myself to connect with musicians, engineers and others to create the work you hear before you. That’s not nothing. Without the drug you’ll often find me hunkered and self doubting.
4. Songwriting Classes
These have been transformational to be honest. I’ve been writing songs for a very long time and it’s easy to fall into ruts and slumps. It has really helped me to take in wisdom from other songwriters. It always sparks something. Even when I think I don’t have another song in me, when I take a class, I get to come at it from a fresh approach and more often than not, get something going. Often with good results. I would first and foremost recommend School of Song. I also took a pre-taped Ryan Tedder class that was kind of a game changer for me.
5. Demo Sharing
During the pandemic, the owner of the Joyful Noise Recordings, who we were working with at the time, reached out to me and asked me to be the resident artist of the fairly new Joyful Noise Artist Enabler Club. Only Lou Barlow had been resident before me. Karl (owner) left it up to me what exactly I wanted to release, but the idea was that I would release material to a limited number of subscribers. Like a little club. It was an absolutely wonderful experience, and I am so grateful they gave me the opportunity. In fact, I was so pleased, that when my time as resident was up, I created a Substack (yoniwolf.substack.com) to continue the program. I deliver one new demo song, along with unique art, every month to my subscribers. That’s where I archive my songs as I write them basically. So far, most have gone on to become fully finished WHY? recordings. So the subscriber gets a massive sneak peek, sometimes years and iterations before the general public. All songs on the new album were first shared this way.
6. Marty Mars
My dog. We go everywhere together. We’re best friends. In some ways, he knows me better than I know myself. When I’m down in the studio at 3am looping a 3 second clip in pro tools while I edit, he lets me know it’s time for bed. When I’m being lazy, sitting on the couch, on my 4th episode of American Idol, he lets me know it’s time to go down to the studio. Apparently, dogs are highly routine oriented, and when I’m bucking the precedent he doesn’t like it.
And he loves going to the studio studio. That’s not a typo. I mean, the real studio. At home, I mostly work alone in a little 11’X11′ room, but we recorded the meat of this album at Brian Joseph’s Hive in Wisconsin–a cute, tricked out barn–with my brother Josiah, Doug McDiarmid, and Andrew Broder. He loves being around the band. Pack mentality and all that. He loves tour, though he’s only been on one, maybe two tours. But yeah we was a big presence during the making of this album. And not just Wisconsin; every step of the process actually. And one of the songs (“Atreyu”) is a love song dedicated to him.
7. Wisconsin Winter
TWIFI is an album of all seasons. But for me it will always feel like winter. The album starts and ends with songs that take place in winter–”Marigold” at the front of the album and “Versa Go!” at the end (track one, “Lauderdale Detour” is just an intro and the final track, “Sending Out a Pamphlet” is a postscript, of sorts). I had to add a little foley of my footfalls crunching through the snow to the top of “Versa Go!”. There were a couple blizzards while we were recording up in Wisconsin. I’d say there was between a foot and three feet of snow on the ground while we were there, and often a lot of ice. And it was freezing. But it was real cozy in the barn.
8. Wind Damage
During our last week up in Wisconsin, I was informed that the roof in Cincinnati, had ripped off my house during an intense wind storm. My neighbor was looking out the window and noticed the rubber roof literally hanging off the side of my house. There was nothing I could do while I was away except get my insurance claim started. We were initially hoping to have the album mixed and mastered two weeks after leaving initial recording in Wisconsin–I tend to tinker a great deal with recordings, making drastic changes in post production and I was hoping to “get out of my own way” on this one and leave it more raw and live sounding–but my house, where my studio is, was really fucked up and I couldn’t stay there. So instead of being in my usual mix environment with my speakers, I was messing around with the songs in my in-ear monitors at various local Cincinnati Airbnbs, all zoomed in, hearing every detail. Of course I was going to fiddle under those circumstances. I had the great fortune to work with Josh Berg on the mix. He would send me semi-stemmed out sessions and I’d chop things up and balance tracks and send back to him for extensive notes and updates. We had hoped to do a quick mix and have the album done April 1st, 2023 but it wasn’t until I was able to be back in my house nearly 6 months later that we were able to put the finishing touches on the thing. Adding all those months of post production very much affected what the album became.
9. Weed
It helps me listen differently. And it can sometimes help me see other perspectives while songwriting and more often, while carving out arrangements, post producing, and mixing. I wasn’t getting high during work hours at Brian’s place up in Wisconsin—I can’t speak for my bandmates—but I was shifting my perspective every night as I digested the progress we were making and thought up ideas on how to proceed.
10. Crossword puzzles
They asked for ten influences. I needed another one, and I do crossword puzzles every day, so I figured it could fit in here. Making an album is a lot like solving a puzzle except with many more dimensions and (if you’re lucky) with more people to help. When we went up to Wisconsin to record, of course I remembered to bring my crossword book, but I forgot to bring a notebook, so I wrote all my studio notes in the margins of the crossword book lol.
WHY? – 2024 Tour Dates
with Baths:
8/16 – Grey Eagle – Asheville, NC
8/17 – Terminal West – Atlanta, GA
8/18 – Motorco – Durham, NC
8/20 – The Atlantis – Washington DC
8/21 – Underground Arts – Philadelphia, PA
8/23 – Bowery Ballroom – New York City, NY
8/24 – The Sinclair – Boston, MA
8/26 – Velvet Underground – Toronto, ON
8/27 – El Club – Detroit, MI
8/28 – The Outset – Chicago, IL
8/29 – Vivarium – Milwaukee, WI
with NNAMDÏ:
9/4 – Off Broadway – St. Louis, MO
9/6 – Deep Ellum Art Co. – Dallas, TX
9/7 – Mohawk – Austin, TX
9/10 – Club Congress – Tucson, AZ
9/11 – Rebel Lounge – Phoenix, AZ
9/13 – VooDoo Room – San Diego, CA
9/14 – Lodge Room – Los Angeles, CA
9/15 – The Independent – San Francisco, CA
9/17 – Mississippi Studios – Portland, OR
9/18 – Washington Hall – Seattle, WA
9/20 – Urban Lounge – Salt Lake City, UT
9/21 – Meow Wolf – Denver, CO
9/23 – Record Bar – Kansas City, MO
9/24 – Slowdown – Omaha, NE
9/25 – Turf Club – Minneapolis, MN
9/27 – Woodward – Cincinnati, OH
9/28 – Blue Room – Nashville, TN
