Artist: Willow
Album: Lately I Feel Everything
Label: MSFTS / Roc Nation / Polydor
Release: July 16th, 2021
Rating: 8.5/10
For the most of us, early adulthood is marked by its trickiness and turbulence. Willow encapsulates that perfectly on LP4, taking listeners on a sharp and stormy (and notably swift, at 26 minutes) rollercoaster ride through the euphoric ups and perilous downs of one’s coming of age, projected through a scuffed and stained lens of soulful indie-rock, scuzzy grunge and explosive pop-punk.
Willow’s equally strained and silvery vocal carries the record, but its the vicious electric guitars – snarling, loose and slathered in distortion – that glue everything together. Highlights bookend the LP in the catchy and kinetic “Transparent Soul” and the one-two punch of riotous, sass-drenched energy in “Grow” and “Breakout”, the journey between bold, biting, and all-around bewitching.
Please note: this review is also printed in #144 of Australian Guitar Magazine, syndicated here because AG’s album reviews are no longer published online.
Lately I Feel Everything is out now via MSFTS / Roc Nation / Polydor. Click here to buy or stream.