The Grouchy Gaijin's Thoughts on Music and Such

Wil ( He spells his name with one l in the press kit I saw) emailed me a while back asking if I'd give a listen to his EP which is titled Stay.

Wil hails from the Garden state.  A Macintosh tech by day, Wil is looking to make the jump to full time musician.  According to his My Space page he has garnered favorable press from BLENDER and NPR as well as "an ever growing internet buzz".

Gee I feel like such a hip insider now - bzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

So, let's see how Wil does on the Grouch scale.

The man can play.  His recordings sound good and his voice is good.  Wil definitely can make some money with this music thing.

Track 1: Super Wonderful - has teen pop / adult contemporary sensation written all over it.  There is actually some nice guitar starting at the 54 second mark and lasting 5 or 6 seconds.  A change comes in at the 1:55 mark and lasts until 2:10 which then goes into a solo which goes until 2:27 before going back to the chorus to finish up the song in a very nice pop friendly 3:00 envelope.

Track 2:Stay - the music is played well.  This is a "lighters held high in the air" type of song.  I can see fat couples in baseball caps swaying back and forth with their hands in each other's back pockets. Then at the 2:41 mark he unleashes that guitar - that is without a doubt the high light of the song.  When he is pulling out those leads, I actually like it a lot.

Track 3: Better Way - The melodic music is met with some melodic vocals.  Casey Kasem the voice of Scooby Doo would love this song.  The latter part of the song made the Grouch smile.  A really nice lead comes in at around the 2:30 mark - to me this makes the song.  Its nice to know he can wail a bit.

Track 4: Nervous - There IS some nice guitar work here.  I even hear power chords.  This song almost rocks.  It has all the elements, his voice is good and he can play guitar.  Something about this song, perhaps that it follows others which are so similar, I feel we are checking off parts of the formula as we go.  Sensitive lyrics to appeal to her - check.  Insert power chord to appeal to him - check.  Safeness factor and pop radio playability - check.  You get the idea.

Track 5: Tired - The highlight of the album.  Its faster than the others and the music is cooler too.  I dig the guitar.  Actually the entire band is pretty rocking on this song.  He finally opens us a bit.  This song has a less whiney feel to it.

Track 6: Say Goodbye - this is another tearjerker of a tune.  Wil is a very sensitive and emotional fellow.

The bottom line:  I have no doubt that Wil will find his audience and probably sell a lot of records.  Most any song on this EP would be fine as the theme song for The O.C. or any other teenage soap opera.  The man is technically proficient and has the ability to pull off some killer licks, but I don't feel much soul in these songs.  What I do hear is middle of the road, safe, radio Disney friendly pop songs.  Jonas brothers watch out.

Grouch rating: 2 scowls

Add your comment

Your name:
Subject:
Comment (you may use HTML tags here):
Word verification:
	Post Preview

yvComment v.1.21.1