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Sounding like Beck before he discovered a love of hip-hop beats and cosmic reinvention, Willy Mason, a 19 year old singer-songwriter from Martha's Vineyard could well be the next darling of the nu-folk scene. Employing the same techniques of ramshackle beaten up guitar blues, lo-fi production and killer tunes, WHERE THE HUMANS EAT, has the same sense of love and attention that you heard on Becks first slew of records - and although minus the obvious zeitgeist shattering crossover single, you can see the seeds of stardom being sprinkled liberally around.
Infectiously finger picked blues guitar licks and a drumbeat that sounds like someone hitting dustbin lids and recording from their kitchen, GOTTA KEEP MOVIN, is a country tinged slice of lo-fi blues. Willy Mason has the kind of voice that drips character and colour, settling into a warm blues growl that still manages to find room for upbeat melodicism. ALL YOU CAN DO is a sprightlier sounding song that takes an excursion into Beatles-like pop amidst the finger picked blues, while STILL A FLY almost sounds like some long forgotten nursery rhyme and is the perfect centre between the whimsy of Devandra Bernhart and intensity of Bright Eyes.
Blending a mournful cello with a chiming glockenspiel and militaristic drums, title track WHERE THE HUMANS EAT is a minimilistic slice of low key folk, sounding like the Eels in an even more downbeat mood. Showing that there's some country to go with the folk and blues, HARD HAND TO HOLD, skips along on finger picked acoustic country guitar playing and vocal melodies that fall just the right side of parody, sounding like the best song Johnny Cash never recorded. Like a weird ragtime waltz, LETTER 1, features what sounds like a 1930's percussionist playing backwards in an aircraft carrier, while SOLD MY SOUL sees Willy upgrading to electric guitars in a Dick Dale meets Johnny Cash way, while singing in a twisted blues howl.
OXYGEN sees Willy Mason laying his cards on the table as a songwriter to truly make you sit up and take notice, a parade of ridiculously catchy melodies that culminate in a chorus so good it would make Coldplay cry, against a simple guitar strum and proof positive that if a song is good enough then vocals and guitar are sometimes enough.
As messy and ramshackle as early Beck and as minimilistic as The White Stripes, Willy Mason is an artist who deserves and demands to be heard.
Sounding more heartfelt and genuine than the majority of singer-songwriter records crowding the market lately, WHERE THE HUMANS EAT, is a lo-fi nu-folk gem and could see the beginnings of a major new artist on the block.

October 12th 2004 sees the release of the outstanding debut album from Martha's Vineyard native Willy Mason. Much more than just another singer/songwriter, 2004 has seen his firm establishment on the music scene.
It certainly has been a remarkable year or so for Mason, who only graduated from High School last year and is still only 19. Performing with his family since around the age of 11 (both parents are professional recording artists, and his 16-year-old brother Sam plays drums on the record), his break came following a backstage meeting with Conor Oberst. The Bright Eyes' frontman was suitably impressed and soon signed him to his new project, Team Love, alongside labelmate Tilly And The Wall.
He has already opened for an array of artists, from The Grateful Dead to Ben Kweller, Death Cab For Cutie to Roseanne Cash. His retro, can't-quite-put-your-finger-on-it sound combined with 21st century, media savvy and social commentary lyrics gives him a wide appeal to listeners. The album is filled with a diverse collection of songs written by Mason, who says optimistically, "We can speak louder than ignorance", while on the other hand makes criticism of modern society in "The dry erase board on your front door shows the world your personality".
The record's lively opener, "Gotta Keep Movin'", quite accurately describes the life Mason has been leading as of late. Highlights of the album include "Our Town", written after a less than amicable confrontation with NYC cops, "Where The Humans Eat", a song about his cats, and the catchy "So Long". Two of the songs from his previously recorded EP, the soon-to-be-released single "Hard Hand To Hold" and radio favourite "Oxygen" also appear on the full length record.
After listening to the album, one gets a sense of intimate, personal acquaintance with Mason. Most of the songs are clearly autobiographical; 2 were sprung from written communications with a friend, and "21st Century Boy" is written in ode to another friend who passed away. Mason advises, "You're just a kid, you shouldn't read Dostoevsky at your age", but this is obviously one kid well ahead of his time.
-- Grace Blackman (2004)
meat-eater on a vegan record label, Willy Mason devours books, gains sustenance from blues and country music, digests the world around him, and spits out inspired and original songs.
After high school (2003), the teenager packed his guitar, took the ferry off his hometown island of Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, and escaped a possible life sentence as a gardener. He wound up in New York City, sleeping on couches and performing at open-mics on various small stages, hawking a 5-song homemade solo acoustic CD. In Northampton, MA, backstage at a Bright Eyes concert, someone put a guitar in Willy's hands… Where The Humans Eat, the first full-length Willy Mason CD was recorded in a house in Catskill, New York in early May. Songs were generally recorded live, in one take, Willy singing and playing guitar (and then over-dubbing cello, accordion, and vibraphone) while younger brother Sam Mason manned the drums.
“I made a rule that we couldn’t record any of the songs in more than three takes. It allows you to make mistakes and accept those mistakes. Listening back, sometimes the wrong notes are the best parts of the song, the imperfections are what keeps it spontaneous and live feeling.”
Sam Mason, a high school sophomore, is a sharpshooter in his own right, with incredible musical instincts and a rather obsessive knowledge of indie rock and hip hop. The Mason boys are talented, don't swear or smoke (very often) and don't show off with their musical skills.
Willy and Sam learned from a creative and idiosyncratic family. Mom (Jemima
James) is a refugee of the New York '60s hippy folk scene, and now juggles a dual identity as North Carolina blues-singer and New England single working mom. Dad (Michael Mason) walked away from a major label recording deal as a teenager, and for the past twenty years has been writing a romantic musical about industrialization. “I played around the island with my mom and dad a lot, with my mom more than my dad. We’d play at this coffee shop called The Hot Tin Roof and she’d have me play lead guitar. This was way back when I was 10 or 11 years old.”
Along with his first love, Nirvana, and later discoveries Hank Williams, Johnny Cash and John Lee Hooker, Willy's biggest musical influences were his parents, and he's not embarrassed to say so. “I started playing guitar in 5th grade, when I saw my friend playing Purple Haze and he taught it to me, but there was always music going on. My parents would have big parties where everyone would play and sing. My uncle used to blow on an apple cider jug, my cousin taught me the mandolin in 3rd grade.”
Willy's saved up his gardening and gig money to buy a van and take the show on the road. When school's not in session, Sam will occasionally be sitting in on drums, and if you're lucky enough to catch them on "The Island"
(Martha's Vineyard), look for pot-luck community dinners with entertainment supplied by the whole Mason family.

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