Former frontman\/songwriter of Bay Area based ramshackle indie soul folk outfit The Mumlers, Will Sprott goes out on his own to create another eclectically styled release with \u201cVortex Numbers.\u201d Part surf, garage-y caveman stompers infused with reflective yet surreal fingerpicked somber ballads combined with Sprott\u2019s soulful throwbacks, this record sprawls yet remains a cohesive voice. And what a voice. Will can belt with the best of them but usually chooses a subtle drawl full of cobwebbed wisdom and mysterious yearning. His vocal range can blend from a deep swampy hum to an airy falsetto with ease, accentuating the often otherworldliness of these songs within the record.<\/p>\n
Many favorites include the 60\u2019s beat-surf-shuffler \u201cPsychic Lady\u201d, the beautifully composed heartstopper \u201cGirl In Houndstooth\u201d and \u201cUnder My Eyes\u201d, a pleasant finger-picker in the style of a Mississippi John Hurt blues number. Sprott\u2019s musical accompaniment also has a lot of depth and color. The flute and violin on the cryptic \u201cCrooked Melody\u201d adds wonderful texture to this jagged haunting tune. The vibes on the Egyptian creepout slinker \u201cWashed Clean\u201d are an excellent example of his arrangement talents. He also uses harmony quite well with back-ups from Oakland\u2019s group, Upside Drown, adding their angelic ghost choir vocals to many tracks, including the somber yet beautiful piano ballad \u201cMiddle Of The Air\u201d. Another standout is \u201cLittle Bells\u201d with its spectral oohs and aahs from the backup singers and its helicopter-like, swirling drum beat is mesmerizing.<\/p>\n
Sprott is also a great lyricist, mixing humor and wistfulness simultaneously without being showy or maudlin. \u201cA Dog Will Love You When No One Else Will\u201d uses its canine metaphors in hilarious ways to bring a whimsy to an Otis Redding like soul banger that dares to be stuck in your head for hours after a listen. The album opener \u201cOpen Eyeball\u201d, recorded with some of his Mumler pals and its lyrics filled with staples, sutures, buzzards and vultures is a perfect album opener and introduces the listener to Will\u2019s weird and memorable universe. He has an undefinable sound that is both familiar and completely unfamiliar which is part of the appeal. Strange happenings here, slip into the vortex.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Former frontman\/songwriter of Bay Area based ramshackle indie soul folk outfit The Mumlers, Will Sprott goes out on his own to create another eclectically styled release with \u201cVortex Numbers.\u201d Part surf, garage-y caveman stompers infused with reflective yet surreal fingerpicked somber ballads combined with Sprott\u2019s soulful throwbacks, this record sprawls yet remains a cohesive voice. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":417,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":0,"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/needletothegroove.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/needletothegroove.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/needletothegroove.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/needletothegroove.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/needletothegroove.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=338"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/needletothegroove.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/needletothegroove.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/417"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/needletothegroove.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=338"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/needletothegroove.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=338"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/needletothegroove.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=338"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}