Willy Mason – “Where The Humans Eat”
General Description
Artist/Band: Willy Mason
Album Title: Where The Humans Eat
Year: 2004
Doesn’t Care About The Mini-Hype.
How I Got Into This Music
This one’s easy.. My usual TV-as-background-music: while ‘listening’ to MTV Europe’s programme on The New Artists Most Likely To Succeed Or Whatever, the track “Oxygen“ was been played and the voice-over told a nice story about a young and very talented Singer/Songwriter called Willy Mason. That piqued my curiosity, especially when Mason’s being hailed as the New Bob Dylan and you get that innocent “Hell no, dude! Who, me?“ kinda look from him..
Tracks that got my attention:
Gotta Keep Moving
This guy’s first track does its introductionary work: it’s a catchy and quick folk/rock track nicely supporting sharp lyrics and a great voice
Still A Fly
Scary.. Twenty years old and putting out lyrics like “You shouldn’t read Dostoevsky at your age“.. Love it!
Where The Humans Eat
Bloody nagging my brain for a fortnight now. Great song..
Fear No Pain
Nope, it’s not a macho ultra-marine gung ho chant, no sirree! It’s like a happy funeral song: a fond farewell
Hard Hand To Hold
Social commentary without boring the hell out of you. Hey, you might even start rethinking stuff! Or just think.. Anyway, it’s got this catchy singalong quality
Our Town
Great more up-tempo track, groovy bass and a real nostalgia feeling taking you back somewhere to the eighties
So Long
Happy singalong track, mudhonest music
Oxygen
My favorite track: incredibly smart and intelligent lyrics, fantastic vocals and a marching song kinda thing happening. Brittle and strong. Again, prodding your grey matter without dumping a load of hippy preaching BS on you and in these overpublicised times, that’s a rarity.
Conclusion
Life is about those little gems you discover along the road. Hidden between the Spears roadkills and easily discarded R&B thrash that you inevitably will encounter, you sometimes get the chance to find something like Willy Mason. Intelligent but not preachy lyrics, easy-listening folk/rock with a sharpness that surprises you like a sheep with wolf’s teeth. Gonna get me a ticket for his show in Rotterdam this April 26th. Great album, great music!
Rating: 
