Willy Mason - If The Ocean Gets Rough

This second album from Willy Mason will have you humming the tracks for the next few weeks, and if emotional, acoustic singer/songwriters are your thing, it’s a must-buy. The follow-up to his brilliant debut ‘Where The Humans Eat’, it’s a modern classic with great songwriting skills on display from start to finish, and proves (again?) that the ‘difficult second album’ isn’t always a bad thing.

Opener ‘Gotta Keep Walking’ is a brilliantly-paced song with a steady beat which perfectly seams the vocal pace with the lyrics, and has possibly the catchiest chorus this year (‘Ruby’ aside), and is the perfect start.

‘If The Ocean Gets Rough’ then moves in to the awe-inspiring stage with ‘The World That I Wanted’, an amazing track which goes to show the forgotten art of storytelling is most certainly not dead - it’s a son’s trouble with gaining the love of his dad here. ‘We Can Be Strong’ is also very good, if a little cliché in parts, but does its job well, and leads the way perfectly for single ‘Save Myself’. Lyrically provocative and musically sound, it should be enough to propel Willy in to the limelight.

‘I Can’t Sleep’ shows a very different side to Mason, with dreamy vocals strung over a smooth sample of various instruments. It may not be his best material, but easily warrants a place on the album. ‘Riptide’ takes the album back in to musically familiar waters (ha!) and has a sharp vocal over soft beats. Never changing yet always interesting it portrays Mason as a man of much more experience than his age suggests possible.

‘When The River Moves On’ keeps up the watery theme, and is similar in style to some Dylan. It’s also a step in to the final water-based number, title track ‘If The Ocean Gets Rough’. Ever changing in sound, it brings a nice, refreshing edge to Mason’s work.

‘Simpletown’ seems to try just a bit too hard, and ends up sticking out like a thumb that has been ten rounds with a sledgehammer - it doesn’t complement the dynamic set down by the first eight tracks. ‘The End Of The Race’ takes the album back to its folk roots however, and although nothing breathtaking, still has a tight sound, with clever lyrics and a nice vocal pace. ‘When The Leaves Have Fallen’ ends the album on a sombre note, struggling to make a clean cut in to the previous tracks, and is the only reason keeping ‘If The Ocean Gets Rough’ from being an ‘album of the year’ contender.