Westerman

As Westerman, British singer/songwriter Will Westerman makes understated, prog-tinged indie pop/rock with a cerebral bent reminiscent of acts like Peter Gabriel, Talk Talk, and Steely Dan. After sharing a handful of tracks and a 2017 debut EP, his first full-length release, Your Hero Is Not Dead, appeared in 2020. The political-minded single “Idol; RE-run,” a collaboration with Big Thief’s James Krivchenia, appeared in 2022 ahead of his Los Angeles-recorded follow-up LP, 2023′s An Inbuilt Fault. At first recording mostly with acoustic guitar, light effects, and percussion, the Londoner’s earliest singles appeared on streaming sites throughout 2016. He made his label debut on Blue Flowers Music with the Call and Response EP in August 2017. Featuring more textured arrangements that added keyboards and electric guitar, it marked a shift away from gentle folk-pop into a space between 1970s soft rock, more technical prog rock, and contemporary bedroom electronic pop. He reinforced the transition by having his friend Bullion produce the two-track single “Confirmation”/“I Turned Away,” which arrived in early 2018. “Confirmation” enjoyed minor online buzz, giving Westerman’s career a boost and creating interest in the remainder of his output for that year: two singles and a four-track EP, Ark. He played his first U.S. dates in late 2018 and — aside from an August guest appearance on Amen Dunes’ track “L.A.” — spent the bulk of 2019 either touring or recording. Bullion assisted with sessions for Westerman’s debut album, and these took place in both southern Portugal and London. In January 2020, Westerman signed to Partisan Records (PIAS), which issued the environmentally themed single “Blue Comanche,” his first material in over a year. Further singles were released before “Your Hero Is Not Dead” — reputedly composed on the day that Talk Talk’s Mark Hollis died — was issued in April. The full-length Your Hero Is Not Dead followed on Partisan in June 2020. After a period that included the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, a move to Athens, Greece, and disenchantment with making music, Westerman returned to songwriting with a more uncompromising approach. A song he wrote shortly after the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol, “Idol; RE-run,” was recorded with producer/percussionist James Krivchenia (Big Thief) and released in October 2022. Further sessions with Krivchenia — alongside a handful of additional players based in Los Angeles — resulted in Westerman’s second album, An Inbuilt Fault, being issued in 2023. ~ Marcy Donelson & James Wilkinson