Willy Mason If The Ocean Gets Rough by: Kev Lavery Sun:08-Jul-07 Label: Virgin Year: 2007 WB rating 84 out of 100

A strange voice enters If The Ocean Gets Rough 20 seconds after the album has begun. The voice, belonging to Willy Mason, is only strange in the context of the music beneath and before it. Mason’s low tone contrasts strangely against the country-addled folk tunes that surround it; it is almost the voice of an older man or of the singer of a 90’s soft rock band. There is really nothing incredibly special about Mason’s voice but it is interesting to hear his singing in context, as at only 22 years old the weariness in Mason’s voice is at a contrast with the images portrayed of Mason and his band photographed in the typical throws of youthful exuberance generally showcased by young touring musicians – or of musicians enjoying any successes that have befallen them. This, along with many other booklet issues, detract from the effect of this honest and lullingly sublime selection of music. Mason’s age isn’t shown through the music or lyrics on this album but, rather, through an earnest but pedestrian short story. But if the worst thing you can say about an album is the booklet is a bit rubbish then you know you’ve found a special little group.

Willy Mason constructs almost timeless music. If The Ocean Gets Rough is minimally electric with, most songs, allowing the resonate beauty of the instruments to speak their piece and fade away. It is a typically folk/country album with mandolin, viola, cello, understated drums, and female backing vocals sitting beautifully beneath the resolute vocals and plucked acoustic guitar. Mature sounding for a band this young (and for a band who look so immature in their sleeve photographs), it is this wistful and unexpected maturity that makes this album so much more endearing; the sort of album that reaches an end and leaves you hankering for new material as soon as humanly possible.

There are parts of this album that are not dissimilar to the songs Johnny Cash and June Carter-Cash produced together, not simply because of the female vocals on some tracks, but because of their simplicity the resulting honesty that this purveys (not to mention the relaxed instrumentation). ‘The World That I Wanted’ is, for the most part, acoustic guitar, drums and Mason’s deep voice. The highlight of this track is the restrained mandolin solo that carries through, in some sense, to the end of the song. The mandolin itself, and obviously how it is being played, is one of the major highlights of this album with Zak Borden proving a polished performer. It isn’t just Borden shining on this album; Mason has surrounded himself with a gifted entourage who flesh out every inch of the space he leaves them. He even managed to get Cash’s daughter Rosanne (a Grammy winner in her own right) to provide vocals.

Much of If The Ocean Gets Rough is built for road trips; ‘We Can Be Strong’, ‘Riptide’, ‘Save Myself’, ‘Gotta Keep Walking’, and ‘The End Of The Road’ are all constructed around hooks you can’t help but sing along to – and with a myriad of vocal lines you are bound to be close to singing in tune with someone. If The Ocean Gets Rough isn’t a meticulously crafted album but rather a sum of the parts of the artists involved. Willy Mason is, if anything, wise beyond his years for this forethought.