Westerman - Every feeling is a thin thread

We got in touch with singer-songwriter Will Westerman to ask him a few questions about his sophomore effort, the excellent “An Inbuilt Fault”, a “pandemic” chapter that allowed him to experiment with new pop sonorities and different writing approaches. Between one hermetic, terse, prickly answer and the next, we discover that the artist is writing to us from Heathrow Airport: despite having just wrapped up the American leg of the tour, he's still constantly on the move between his homeland and Greece, where he currently lives. Still, a bit of rest might do him some good.

A period of existential crisis and a long stretch of isolation in Italy lie at the root of “An Inbuilt Fault”. Can you tell us about the genesis of your new album?

I started writing the album in Italy, I was there for 6 months during the winter of 2020/2021. I arranged the songs by myself for a while, and then I went to Los Angeles to re-record the tracks with a live band made up of James Krivchenia, Matt Davidson, Luke Temple, Erin Birgy and Gibi Dos Santos. There were overdubs by Joe McGrail, Booker Stardrum, Mikel Patrick Avery and Robin Eubanks. The album is often about freedom and randomness. I wasn't feeling very optimistic when I made it.

From a songwriting standpoint, cinema also had a big influence on your new album, particularly films like “The Seventh Seal” by Ingmar Bergman, and “Ikiru” by Akira Kurosawa. What aspects did you mainly want to capture from these works?

The sense of isolation and the lack of meaning.

You can sense new musical influences and more complex textures compared to the melodies of “Your Hero Is Not Dead”. Were there any particular artists you drew inspiration from while composing?

Hildegard of Bingen, Kali Malone, Can and Townes Van Zandt were the people I was listening to before I started writing.

How did the track “Pilot Was A Dancer” come about? I was intrigued by its very Nineties outro and by the lyrics.

I already had the music and I felt I needed a closer with an audible resolution to tie the album together. My friend Ed suggested I try writing the characters in a pure way, in a manner I'd never done before. I tried to imagine what kind of questions might run through the mind of someone who suspects they're the last living example of their kind.

Part of the phase dedicated to exploring new sonic territory also involved James Krivchenia of Big Thief, what was it like working with him?

I enjoyed it.

There aren't only personal themes, but also broader social subjects, like those addressed in “Idol; RE-run”, written during the period of the Capitol riot in the US in early 2021. Can you tell us about that?

There's a misconception. That song isn't specifically about those riots. There's always a combination of internal and external factors. That's what writing songs is. The alchemy lies in the combinations, in the attempt to say something that's understood through feeling on the other end. The external context around the album is very clear. It was written during a period of forced constraint, when the erosion of many previously trusted institutions reached a breaking point.

I noticed the contrast between two titles, “Give” and “Take”. Was that a random choice, or was there intent behind exploring the theme of balance between giving and taking in a personal relationship?

It was intentional.

One of the album's central themes concerns the difficulty of building a stable future as a musician. Post-Covid and with Brexit now in effect, what changes have you noticed, especially when it comes to live music?

The touring economy no longer works for anyone except a select few artists, and those victorious artists largely capitalize on it even more ruthlessly than before.

A book, a film and an album that matter to you.

“How Much Land Does a Man Need?” by Tolstoy, “The Lord of the Rings” directed by Ralph Bakshi, and “Pink Moon” by Nick Drake.

Is there an artist or band you'd like to work with in the future?

Yes, but no one in particular comes to mind that I'd single out above the rest.

In “A Lens Turning” you sing “I don't know who I am anymore/ That's okay”, who is Will Westerman today?

Will Westerman is a sleep-deprived thirty-one-year-old man drinking a terrible cup of cold coffee and trying not to be annoyed by the elevator music playing at "The Perfectionists' Café", Heathrow Airport, Terminal 2.

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