Empathogen is Willow’s BestWork
Playlist Column — A very late album review
I am not an album listener, but when I choose to, I always reserve that privilege for artists I take seriously or whose title track (kpop terms) or prereleases uproots my inability to sit through a full album. I succumbed to taking that journey and committed to hearing empathogen by Willow.
I will admit I did not know Willow released an album and I found out about it a week after its release because of a live performance of home featuring Jon Batiste, the first track on empathogen. The performance suddenly appeared on my YouTube feed and I could not believe no one told me Willow was dropping a new album. Where was I?
The same evening I pulled up Spotify on my phone, put my headphones on, connected the Bluetooth, and while washing the plates and preparing dinner, I listened to the album from top to bottom.
There is a level of anticipation when going into a new Willow album.
The most impressive thing about this album is the songs’ production and composition. On my first listen, I was mostly captivated by the sounds, the rhythms, the musicality and the melodies. I didn’t pay much attention to the lyrics until my third listen. When I did though, some of the song’s lyrics weren’t as enthralling but the composition made up for what was lacking. It was a musical journey I kept wanting to go back to. There are only a few songs I thoroughly enjoyed for both their composition and songwriting: symptom of life, the fear is not real, pain for fun and run!
I remember listening to the album the second time and thinking, “This is what I have missed from Willow since 2019”. The self-titled album was the first of hers I’d listened to. While I have enjoyed and appreciated the releases between then and this latest album, I feel Willow’s genuine love for music and that she found her place with empathogen. The rock-influenced punk sounds of The Anxiety, Lately I Feel Everything, and Copying Mechanism felt like experiments that would never stick.
But I have always liked that Willow is experimental. She takes music seriously and doesn’t want to box herself in. I want to conclude for her and say that I wouldn’t mind if she made two or three more albums that complement empathogen.
Maybe there is room for shorter songs…
I appreciated the shorter songs even though I have a quibble with artists these days writing two-minute songs because most times the songs feel incomplete.
Usually, I want the final chorus repeated, or I find the verses are too short, or it needs an outro or a satisfying bridge. I’m talking about when a song could be everything if songwriters hold out for inspiration to make the track perfectly complete. This is one of the reasons I value older music because artists back then didn’t leave you hanging or with an itch you can’t scratch. The songs are always so satisfying. Even if a song was shorter, it didn’t matter because it still felt like a complete thought, like this was what they had to say and it ended here in less than 3 minutes.
Willow’s short tracks (any song under 3 minutes), even the interlude of sorts with no words, are not throwaways or skips. They are not my favourites, but so was pain for fun featuring St. Vincent after the first listen. Willow’s album is a grower with a few first-getters but it is in no way an album that falls short. It ends huge and loud with b i g f e e l i n g s, a song that makes the album’s end feel like the beginning of a new project. There is no calm end but rather an explosion of energy, one could say the album ends with a bang.
The negatives
This brings me to my only thumbs-down on the album: song placements. No words 1 & 2 is composed exactly as the name of the track suggests and essentially is an empty song. Down which comes right after also feels like an empty song and even though this one has lyrics, it is ironically and amusingly shorter.
After getting two spacey songs back to back one feels underwhelmed and ready to call it quits. But it works because both tracks are so short. Down is a great example of a short song that works, any longer and I would have skipped it. Then run! begins and the album is cohesive again, even if the flow from down is off-putting.
Overall empathogen is impressive in its song structure and composing beauty. For the first time listening to a Willow album, I paid less attention to what she was saying and more to how she was saying it. Willow is closer than before to finding her sound. She might want to try something different after this but I want her to sit and marinate in this sound for a while because she sounds incredible. I can’t wait for more live performances.
