Plain Sailing - Willy Mason

“You’ve just got to roll with it. Write what you know. It’s alright if it’s different,” asserts Mr Mason when faced with the claim that the second album can be a difficult one. And any difficulties Willy may have had in delivering his second album are hidden well. For ‘If The Ocean Gets Rough’ is already one of the year’s best albums – a poignant and uncompromising piece of work that is both deeply personal to the songwriter and instantly relatable to the listener. It has all the traits that first charmed us with ‘Where The Humans Eat’ – the worn-around the edges folk songs, the weathered vocals and the lyrics that resonate so. And yet the album signals quite a development from his debut. There’s a fuller sound to this album, with a whole host of musicians playing on various tracks – as opposed to his debut which was essentially just Willy and his brother Sam on drums.

“With the first one we thought we were just making a demo and just playing live so the second one is more of a proper recording session”, Willy explains. The more polished sound of this album owes more to the time spent on recording it rather than a post-first album success splurge on expensive recording equipment though: “We went to a fancy studio but in some ways I had less equipment than with the other one but we spent more time fiddling with sounds and stuff like that”

As a result the recording process was quite different from that of the first album and it was not without its challenges. “It was a little more difficult, there were more ups and downs and it took more effort but because of it the songs had more time to evolve. It was tough sometimes just having to communicate with people because on the first record me and Sam didn’t have to talk very much at all so having to explain things and discuss things was difficult.”

As well as playing drums, Sam is also involved with the artwork. His drawing adorns the album sleeve, accompanying a piece of prose written by Willy. It seems that a lot of work is put into the artwork: “On this one I had more time with that too and with the singles as well I’m pretty proud of all the artwork. For the singles we used photographs from a book my Dad wrote back in the 60s or 70s.” Indeed, his family seems to be a strong basis for everything Willy Mason does. Not only do they help out with artwork but they also make cameos in his music videos and his mum supplies backing vocals on the album. “It’s just convenient”, Willy jokes.

The album feels a more focused record than his debut. His lyricism has evolved and there are various themes which draw the album together – most notably the ocean and river imagery which recurs throughout: “I live on an island and when I was growing up we didn’t have any bears or anything but the ocean is where you learn that you’ve got to be careful. It’s left an imprint.”