"here I am once more / I'm not cut out for it / wrap your arms around me / make me see again / let me disconnect now / help me press eject / tunnel my escape hole / get me out of this..."
Sometimes when I listen to music, really listen, I feel references, notions about the blended sounds or genres and, of course, they are based on my own perceptions and knowledge of the sonic arts / music history more so than even the artist themselves. That is the only way we can frame our opinions really and I like that about music, songs and any kind of art that we consume. Songs for me are a sonic Rorschach test, sonic inkblots that we interpret for ourselves.
Dipping into "Therapy" by UK singer-songwriter, musician, artist Will Whisson and from his 3 song "Peacemaker" EP, that dropped recently this year (2023), and I feel a shifting blend of tones. On one hand, the rhythms with a plaintive piano, drones of orchestrations and beautiful harmonica sweeps have both an Irish folk sensibility but also a broad Gothic rock sound as Will's vocal countenance, saturated with degrees of grit, self-reflections and pain, as he begins: "here I am once more / I'm not cut out for it / wrap your arms around me / make me see again / let me disconnect now / help me press eject / tunnel my escape hole / get me out of this..." feels so vast, a journey on the move. As the drive, wanderlust and scope becomes more urgent and tense with the pushed bass and drums and those growing orchestrations kicking stones down the road I feel illusions to 90's post punk and a patina of 80's baroque pop too.
There are rushes, chills in the air around "Therapy", a feeling of shifting things happening around us, communities changing maybe, society on edge, self turmoil or all of those things. The track was recorded and produced by Peter Miles and Will Whisson with orchestrations by the Parallax Orchestra. You might feel other things, see other imagery from the inkblots that Will Whisson splashes on white walls but what ever you feel or see, I bet it will be cinematic and impactful.
-Robb Donker Curtius
THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM
https://soundcloud.com/will-whisson
https://open.spotify.com/artist/5jxx8JJLYm3TGpoBEUOyp0
https://www.instagram.com/willwhisson/
https://www.willwhisson.com/
‘Out of the Woods’ is the title of Will Whisson’s debut album released at the tail end of 2019.
Having just come off of a 3 month solo European tour, Will set about work for the album by setting up a small home studio in Kent to write and experiment extensively in as multi-instrumentalist and songwriter. The writing process also lead him to London and Wales before it was finally recorded in Ireland.
The title, chosen for its double barrel meaning, reflects the long periods of time spent in isolation riddled with uncertainties and self-doubt while also symbolizing the completion of the project as a means of returning to light and regaining some sense. With influences, that include The War on Drugs, Coldplay and The Killers, the record sways between hypnotic passages of music to more impactful and euphoric singalongs.
This collection of songs is Will’s most ambitious body of work to date and showcases songs that would have been impossible to foresee when he started his journey back in 2016.
It’s a story that began with an acoustic guitar and a rusty old camper van in the hope of becoming a travelling musician via the route of busking on streets all over Europe. With 2 EPs, hundreds of gigs and thousands of miles under his belt, the release of his debut album is a fitting way to cap a journey that is rare and hard to match.
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