The Willowz – Are Coming / 2005 Sympathy For The Record Industry / 13 Tracks / http://www.thewillowz.com / [email protected] / Reviewed 01 March 2005

The Willowz mix equal parts The White Stripes with Guns ‘N’ Roses in tracks like “Keep On Looking”. That is to say, the musical sections of The White Stripes, which look back to the halcyon days of late sixties rock and the falsetto, Axl Rose-esque vocals of Richie. Each track on “Are Coming” is infused with the rock of bands like Patti Smith and the Talking Heads, creating a Spartan landscape that increases the importance of each guitar line or drum beat. As such, much of the vocals on “Are Coming” have to pick up the slack created by these laconic lines; on tracks like “Questionaire”, Richie creates pure music with eir vocals, moving far beyond the conveyance of a message. The continue experimentation by The Willowz is perhaps their strongest suit. While the majority of tracks on “Are Coming” come from that rock tradition previously mentioned, tracks like “Vagabondage” seem to be pulled out of a Red Hot Chili Peppers/QOTSA groove, deriving as much of their energy from funk as they do rock.

What results with “Are Coming” is an album that skillfully incorporates all the good things that rock spanning the last three decades had going for it; the bongos of “Something” mix deftly with the David Byrne meets Iggy Pop-vocals of “Wake Up”. The Willowz actually have not exaggerated on their promo sheet. When they say that “The Willowz Are Coming will be...the new voice of rock’n’roll”, they are not lying. The incredibly dense tracks that are swaddled in the lightest of vestments during “Are Coming” will provide tremendously different emotional effects depending on where one finds their interests. “Wake Up” could sound like the earliest nineties alternative, contemporary alt-rock, or even America/CSNY!

Getting into more of a punk groove during the last section of the CD, The Willowz during “Not You” and “Get Down” are a band that incorporates the true sources of punk – rockabilly and r&b – to the snot-nosed sneer traditionally associated with punk rock. The Willowz provide so much material on this disc that “Are Coming’s” 38-minute run-time seems almost double. Chances are that as this year rolls on, The Willowz will become the next big thing, takig their rightful place alongside those nine other videos on TRL as well as becoming the darlings of Rolling Stone and Pitchfork. However, unlike many bands in that same position, they deserve any accolades they may garner.

Top Tracks End Song, Keep On Looking

Rating: 7.3/10