Wasuremono is a vehicle for William Southward’s songs, for which he’s now spent the last decade crafting infectious, hook-laden, indie-pop music from his garden shed in Bradford-On-Avon. An independent and autonomous artist to the core, on past albums he has had his hands involved at every stage of the production, from songwriting to mixing and mastering via making videos and releasing the records. “It’s a real labour of love,” says Southward. “It’s always been a total DIY thing where I did everything. I’m proud of what has been achieved from just putting it out myself.”
For his latest album, Southward decided to open things up and enlisted Tony Draper (Emilíana Torrini, Peter Perrett, Ibibio Sound Machine) to mix the album, and Dick Beetham (Pet Shop Boys, Alt-J, Loyle Carner) to master it. The result is a collection of shimmering pop songs that embellishes Southward’s songwriting, allowing it to positively glow. “To have that process taken out of my hands has been eye opening,” he says. “I’m so pleased with how it sounds.”
More a collection of songs than an album with a narrative theme or concept, Southward found himself focusing on the songs purely from a melody perspective and then piecing it together with words after. “I don’t write about particular things,” he explains. “Sometimes I will plaster a load of nonsensical words over it, while I’m looking for a melody. I love it when choruses and words pop out by complete chance and it’s always a win when you can connect the words to those sorts of melodies and it flows” He cites early REM and Smashing Pumpkins as being a reference point for the kind of melody-first approach he’s shooting for.
From the opening tracks ‘Me and the Noise’ and ‘See You in the Gold’, it’s clear that Southward has a skilled and intrinsic knack for writing music that suits a bigger sound palette. “I’m a sucker for a pop song,” he says. “For those first two opening tracks, I was listening to a lot of A-ha and 80s bands. I’ve always been a fan of that style of production and that big kind of vocal. And there’s a little Spandau Ballet reference on ‘See You in the Gold’ too.”
However, 1980s throwback music that mimics the past this is not. The songs on Wasuremono’s latest sound fresh and contemporary, running the gamut of pop music that stretches from art to indie via the kind of stuff you might expect to be filling arenas. There is a rousing, almost euphoric, and triumphant tone to some of these songs.
Me and the Noise is bursting with big, shiny, surging pop tunes, as well as more subtle, low-key and wonky indie-pop moments, along with tender moments of introspection and reflection. It’s a bold step up for Southward as a songwriter and unquestionably a milestone album. “I think this is the best thing I’ve ever written,” he says. “I’m really proud of these songs and the album as a whole body of work.”
