Wesley Gonzalez - Appalling Human

With shades of Prefab Sprout, Al Green and contemporaries like Metronomy, Wesley Gonzalez’s solo work is a far cry from his scrappier days as part of Let’s Wrestle. Described as a “post-therapy album,” on this second album Wesley channels his learnings and faults with a cathartic funk, retaining the Mark E Smith humour that made his debut such an interesting departure. Opener ‘Tried To Tell Me Something’, for instance, is a tale of ignoring the problems soundtracked by a technicolour melody, all saxophones and bright synth stabs. Elsewhere, however, the maximalism makes the lyrical darkness strike in an odd way. The two rub up against each other in a none-too-friendly way, and the sparks that generate don’t catch fire either. The album’s highlight comes in its bruising closer, ‘Did You Get What You Paid For?’. It’s the perfect example of what Wesley is trying to achieve; a reassessment of everything that’s come from before and of his priorities too. “Do you all love me? / Am I what you want?” he asks, with a quiver in his voice. It’s sharp and serious but without the navel-gazing feel that sometimes makes ‘Appalling Human’ a difficult one to truly get stuck into.