Williamson
A Few Things To Hear Before We All Blow Up
(Self-Released)
Take a background in indie music, add a sprinkle of shoegaze, then spice it all up with a dollop of electronic production and the result is something close to what you'll hear on this debut album by Williamson. The last name of one Wade Williamson, this 12-track debut is far beyond what you're likely to hear by most bedroom music technicians. It's electronic music with a warm beating heart and the 12-track release glides almost effortlessly between genres, sliding in and arriving somewhere alongside artists like Manual and other Morr Music artists.
Despite the somewhat bleak title, the album bubbles with warm sounds that would make a nice accompanyment to a late night or an early morning. The release opens with a pretty guitar melody drifting under loads of subtle programming on "2%er" before drifting off into what is probably one of the better tracks on the release with "Rubber." Again, the backbone of the track is a nicely progressing guitar melody, but deep, warm synth pads and shimmering effects rain down over it all while just the right amount of crunch drives the song through to some unknown destination.
The formula for songs is similar (or rather, the instrumentation that goes into them), but the results are varied enough to keep the listener on their toes. "Time You'll Never Get Back" spirals into funnel of cascading guitars and subtle blippery while "We're All Boned" takes a slightly more electronic feel, layering filtered melodies over chugging beats that ocassionally skitter out-of-control. The nicely-titled "What's On The Ceiling Beats What's On TV" is a slowly evolving gem that drifts sleepily before adding warm synth melodies and a slothlike beat. The perfect soundtrack to trace a crack or follow a small spider across your ceiling, indeed.
With the glut of self-released albums out there, it's little gems like this that make me regain my belief in plowing through it all to find the great stuff. While it doesn't work all the time (a couple times the heavy filtering simply gets to be a bit overbearing when a simple melody would do just fine), it's a solid little release from an artist that most listeners have probably never heard of. If you're a fan of the aforementioned Morr label, you'd definitely do well in seeking this one out.
Rating: 7.25
