Song \’ sóŋ\ n 2: A poetic composition. Music \’myü-zik \ n 2: an agreeable sound. To hear the work of Will Stratton is to experience music and song in both their simplest definitions while also swimming in their deepest of meaning. While the same could be said for many folk artists, Stratton offers us a sound keenly subtle and vast in spirit. His latest album, New Vanguard Blues, is constructed of sweetly singed words and melodies that are familiarly refreshing; songs that take the headache away and help us breathe a little bit deeper. It is the kind of music we could run parallel with for a while. Like cool earth below a willow tree, or tumbling sea glass water below broken sunlight, Will Stratton’s music and song are inseparable. As Whitman confesses of himself “how quick the sunrise would kill me if I could not now and always send sunrise out of me”, Stratton might too perish if he did not send out his song. We find a part of our identity, part of our fears and frailties, in his twisting chords and lyrics. Tunes such as “Bluebells” and “New Vanguard Blues” offer us what can only be a sweet beginning to a satisfying album. So let’s lay ourselves down to our loneliness and our dreams and run with the music for a while; let’s get lost in its river and its trees.

Where have all the soft melodies gone? It seems that at one point, they were a must. But, to the wayside of electronic-induced euphoria and the return of avant garde, did all these sweet little surely dissipate from the mainstream? Will Stratton understands the significance of these beautiful little numbers. “Your California Sky”, from Stratton’s sophomore album No Wonder, is so entrancing in it’s simplicity it makes Belle & Sebastian seem like a post punk garage band screaming about the benefits of anarchy. This 22 year old New Yorker is as smooth as a baby’s bottom and as calm as a Sunday morning on a three day weekend. When it seems like the world is going crazy, an artist like Stratton is a wonderful find.

No Wonder is now available at Indie Merch Store.

Will Stratton: Your California Sky [mp3]