WILLOW - <COPINGMECHANISM>
Last summer, WILLOW released her fourth studio album Lately I Feel Everything, a complete 180 from her previous albums which were rich with trippy experimental R&B and misty psychedelic nuances.
WILLOW let listeners and critics alike know that she cannot be confined to the label of bedroom pop songstress with an album saturated with animated pop-punk, emo, and metal aesthetics. In her continuation of that design, <COPINGMECHANISM> sounds like the album she has wanted to make her entire decade-long career.
On WILLOW’s newest release, her eclectic personality is accented by her Gen-Z wit. It is almost paradoxical how she emanates an aura of self-assuredness both lyrically and sonically while displaying feelings of doubt and unease in many of the tracks. While she has always had mighty pen work, her confidence in this album is unparalleled. The opening song ‘<maybe> it’s my fault’ shows WILLOW pondering whether she could have been the reason why her relationship failed in this dynamic start to the album. On the follow-up track ‘Falling Endlessly’ the Hayley Williams-esque energy is tangible in this cathartic piece that shows WILLOW to be a hopelessly confused romantic.
WILLOW never turns down the spunk on this album which is clear on the titular song ‘<Coping Mechanism>’ which she begins with the line “Fun fact, I’m so sick of myself,” while being accompanied by a playful couplet between the bass guitarist and drummer. Like many of this albums tracks, ‘<Coping Mechanism>’ features stormy guitar solos usually played by herself.
Exhibiting a remarkable control over her voice in the upper registers, the talent is evident in songs like ‘curious/furious’ and ‘Split’ where her soprano abilities come on full display as well as her knack for flowery verses. “The wind in the trees whispering mathematics…Refract the wisdom to heal the abyss,” she sings in a budding lull on ‘curious/furious’ before erupting into an evocative chorus.
‘Split’ shows the singer coming to terms with a broken relationship beyond repair, culminating with a powerful post-chorus towards the end of the song. As with her previous albums, the production centers around harmonies that add timbre to her already well-crafted voice coupled with passionate lyricism. Her previous work has already proven that she can perform the necessary vocal acrobatics that could make the listener drop their jaws. With the addition of power chords and distortion in this punk-laden album, something about her voice makes the listener fall into a stupor.
The album’s only feature comes from the iconoclastic enigma known as Yves Tumor on ‘Perfectly Not Close To Me’, trading refrains over sparkly synths and energetic guitar sequences. Their faint baritone along with WILLOW’s alt-rock breakdowns which pop up frequently throughout the album, serves as a nice duet.
While the almost is mostly upbeat, existing in a maelstrom of stark, swelling rock, she does provide moments of mild calm like on ‘hover like a GODDESS’ and more noticeably on ‘No Control’. ‘hover like a GODDESS’ is definitely the type of song you could picture a preteen girl playing air guitar to in the sanctum of her vintage poster-decorated bedroom walls. In this catchy song about temptation and yearning, WILLOW croons “I wanna surf your waves to the shore/And find what lies real deep inside/ I'll be the moon to your high tide.” ‘No Control is perhaps the most laid-back song on the album giving off a mellow post-grunge vibe that eases listeners into the album’s fiery conclusion on ‘Batshit’.
Overall, this album is wild and fun and supremely enjoyable to bask and appreciate. What makes this album special and what makes this side of WILLOW so significant, is that she dives into the ocean of mid-2000s punk and emo so well without relinquishing the modernity of it all. While Lately I Feel Everything, felt much more nostalgic in nature and formulated, <COPINGMECHANISM> feels like WOLLOW reclaiming the freedom and zeitgeist behind the genre of punk. It’s exciting to see young creators like herself finding new grounds with their art and run the gamut of possibilities with their visions for the future of the music world.
Alana Brown-Davis
★★★★★