Willy Mason - If the Ocean Gets Rough

When Willy Mason released his first album, 2004’s Where the Humans Eat he became the latest in a long line of troubadours to earn the “new Dylan” moniker. These comparisons weren’t without merit, especially when you consider first single Oxygen, a raging polemic against the evils of the modern world. The rest of the album was a triumph of gentle guitar, meandering vocals and witty lyrics that sounded like the perfect accompaniment to a long drive through autumnal country roads. It was hardly surprising that it became the second album to be released by Connor Oberst’s Team Love label. Three years later and follow up If the Ocean Gets Rough sounds like a natural progression. The album is more demure, lacking such self-affirming tracks such as Fear No Pain, replacing them with the world weary We Can Be Strong, whose positivism sounds beautifully hollow. Opener Gotta Keep Walking echoes Where The…’s first track Gotta Keep Moving, but the titles alone convey the difference in attitudes. It is clear from the album that Mason has grown both as a person and an artist. The songs here would not seem out of place on his debut, but together they show an artists who has moved away from the naivety of his youth into a cynical and talented songwriter. He alters his folk-rock sound just enough to sound innovative, but fortunately he hasn’t strayed too far from the path that his fans trod with him on the first album. The more upbeat tracks such as Still A Fly have been lost, but by restricting himself to slow tempo tracks Mason has produced an album that works much better as a whole and the overtones of tour-mates Radiohead (especially on I Can’t Sleep) are a welcome enhancement. The only slight let down on the album is leading single Save Myself, another overly political song which might as well have been called Oxygen mk II. But even this would have been a great song, if it did not resemble a better one so much. This aside, the tracks show an artist who is transfixed by the natural world, as he intertwines references to sky, trees and seas into close to a dozen enchantingly doleful songs, holding up a mirror to the beauty of his Martha’s Vineyard home and his own inner qualms. Together this is a collection of songs equal as beautiful as Mason’s first effort, and maybe a little more cohesive as an LP. It won’t be a life changing record and it won’t appeal to everyone, but if you are looking for a quiet night in with some politically charged, pessimistic alt-folk which is as beautiful as a crisp November morning, then you could do a lot worse than giving this a spin.*Save Myself*http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5EBJh70gek