Westerman - Your Hero Is Not Dead

Amid a varied batch of alternative male solo artists breaking through in recent years, Will Westerman has managed to carve out a corner that feels fairly unique. There’s a pillowy richness to the Londoner’s wistful synths that owes a debt to ‘80s pop stalwarts Prefab Sprout, while across ‘Your Hero Is Not Dead’ the singer conjures up a world of close harmonies and smoke machine nostalgia. Twinkles of Kate Bush keys dapple in the background of ‘Blue Comanche’; ‘The Line’ is a low-key gem of drum pad beats and subtle, clever chord changes, while highlight ‘Think I’ll Stay’ shows a classic songwriter of skill. Where Westerman’s debut suffers is in its consistency: there’s such a distinctive sonic palette that, within a batch of tracks whose tempo never steps past ‘mid’, it’s hard for individual offerings to always stand out. But really he’s done the hard work; now Westerman’s defined his niche, all he has to do is refine it a little.