There’s a nearly perfect song tucked inside of the new release from The Other Ryan Willis, kinda.
“Sorta,” is the seventh track on the effort, which combines two new EPs from the St. Pete songwriter. Mid-Level Philosophy and Guess So are actually the follow ups to last year’s Candy and Cloves, which was recorded at Yoko Phono Recordings.
DO THIS: VIVA LA RECORDS MIXTAPE RELEASE AT THE LOFT 10.21.16
Alexander and the Grapes frontman Alexander Charos helms the St. Pete recording studio, and is great at reaching out to CL to share the music he records. He passed the new record to us after its release last month. Since the front half of the new Willis material is being recorded on a lot of the same equipment as the Grapes’s stuff, it shares some of the sonic qualities.
Things switch to DJ Larson’s Surprise Studios on the second half of this CD, and a quick listen to the opening of “Sorta” clearly outlines the differences.
“I wanna bite your wrist, and smell your sweat and squeeze your neck,” Willis sings to open the track. “Your face has started turning red. Narrow blue eyes. And you keep asking me to pull your hair, sorta.”
Well, alright.
The rest of the song careens over angular guitar lines, airy chords plus weirdly relaxing stop-and-start drums. It’s good, and you can listen to it — along with the rest of the CD — below. Purchase the album for your loved ones via Bandcamp.
Your next chance to see him live is on Friday October 21 for Viva La Records’s mixtape release party at The Loft. Details are available on CL’s events calendar.
This article appears in Sep 22-29, 2016.
