"lie to me, (do it sweetly), lie to me, (if you love me)..."
I might be freaking out a tiny bit as I listen to "lie to me" from the artfully askew Whitten and Williams. Freaking out because I actually don't know how to review this, not because at times I feel like I have bouts of emotional dyslexia, or that trying to describe what I am hearing will get me lost in a plunge pool of internet sleuthing which I tend to do when trying to find comparisons. But I will not get overwhelmed in the details. From the onset, as you step into the oddly curious sounds of "lie to me" with the choppy percussiveness and vocal maqamat-esque melodies (that curl around Mid-Eastern and even (maybe) traditional Japanese music tones) you feel less like you are listening to a song and more like you are witnessing performance art.
At the core, the sonic seedling is the accomplished UK composer, multi-instrumentalist Jon Whitten (guitar, ukulele, bass, keyboards, hammered dulcimer, voice, percussion) whose grand foray blending classical, jazz, pop, folk and more has found him working with so many other creative artists. His project as Whitten and finds him collaborating with poets. As noted by those who can describe what he does so well (better than I):
[Jon Whitten puts poems to music under the name ‘Whitten and’. All music is written and self-produced by him with mixing and vocal production overseen by Charlie Andrew (the Brit Award winning producer behind the likes of alt-j, Marika Hackman and London Grammar). In the long term, Jon dreams of making music with poets like Sara Hirsch and Erika Sánchez as ‘Whitten and Hirsch’ or ‘Whitten and Sánchez’ but this song is based on a poem written by Williams, a reclusive poet who he met whilst travelling through America (the continent), hence Whitten and Williams. It’s a type of project that has never existed before and more importantly, it’s how Jon likes to make music.]
Jon says of the song:
“Is there anyone left at this point who doesn’t, on some level, want to be Rosalía? Musically this is a love letter. Poorly spelled in enthusiastic crayon but sincerely felt. It’s the most minimal song of this project, with nothing but a ukulele, clapping and a synth drone to accompany the singing.”
Williams says of the poem:
“This concept of the poem is someone struggling with something unspoken, and every line could be them speaking to their partner or a future version of themself or vice-a-versa. Our struggles in life can vary so greatly and sometimes they may eat us up inside so much that we beg our loved ones and ourselves to only tell us what we think we want to hear. However, I believe as humans our internal pangs, twangs, wants and needs are often so similar that they can resonate with and echo each other almost perfectly.”
Charlie says of the project:
“I’m so incredibly excited to be working with Jon on this project. We met when he played dulcimer on alt-j’s album “RELAXER” and it’s great that he is now writing his own amazing stuff. The fact that he is collaborating with all different sorts of lyricists means the project has infinite inspiring collaborative possibilities, which I love.”
Did I go the easy way out by pasting up PR material, MAYBE, but it seems so crucial in this case. In the end, Whitten and Williams on the forever captivating and elusive "lie to me" lets you escape into something distinctly unique. A multicolored piece of musical origami that when unfolded pushes artful cues in your heart and mind and let you get utterly lost and float away for 3 minutes and 4 seconds.
-Robb Donker Curtius
THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM - PRESS NOTES:
https://soundcloud.com/user-307437300
Whitten and Williams release their single ‘lie to me’ through Square Leg Records on 25th February.
The project is at its very core collaborative. Jon Whitten puts poems to music under the name ‘Whitten and’. All music is written and self-produced by him with mixing and vocal production overseen by Charlie Andrew (the Brit Award winning producer behind the likes of alt-j, Marika Hackman and London Grammar). In the long term, Jon dreams of making music with poets like Sara Hirsch and Erika Sánchez as ‘Whitten and Hirsch’ or ‘Whitten and Sánchez’ but this song is based on a poem written by Williams, a reclusive poet who he met whilst travelling through America (the continent), hence Whitten and Williams. It’s a type of project that has never existed before and more importantly, it’s how Jon likes to make music.
psychedelic, chamber pop, dream pop, Whitten and Williams, freak folk, "lie to me", collaborative project, poetry, art performance, world musical tones, Jon Whitten, Williams, musical origami,
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