Brooklyn, NY-based Joseph William brings us his debut solo release What If, It Was. The tunes on the album were inspired by some Amtrak travel he took in college. He says that he “got to see a lot of the country from a different perspective” and that influenced his songwriting on the EP.
William started his musical career as a drummer, but there’s very little drumming to be had on What If, It Was--just a little percussion on one track (“Hill Street Blues”). Instead, for his first solo release, he’s tracked a four-song set of folky, acoustic-guitar centered songs that fall broadly in the Americana bucket. It fits his subject matter, which reflects his observations on small-town life from the perspective of someone who has left and come back. As is typical for this genre, the lyrics are the focal point. William builds in a good sense of humor right from the opening couplet: “If you keep on smoking all them cigarettes / I bet you’ll never die.” He casts a flat eye towards the pious (“I gave a poor man a dollar, and I called myself a saint”), and on rural life in general (“I got nowhere to go, nowhere to be tonight”). William’s take on small-town America is not congruent with Norman Rockwell’s. Musically, the songs are centered around open-chord acoustic guitar arrangements with some obligatory harmonica sprinkled in. His vocal delivery suits the Americana backdrop--it’s the right blend of technical, casual and rougher-edged. William does a nice job varying the textures and tempos with each track having a different feel. The album builds in intensity and instrumentation all the way through, culminating with the electric guitar and backing vocals that are included on “The Good Never Came.” As a listener, it’s an enjoyable journey. William concludes, “I’m waiting for the good to come, but the good never came.” Well, there’s some good on What If, It Was--give it a try!
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