A new breed

(Morning Star, Saturday 19 February 2005)

ALBUM: Willy Mason - Where The Humans Eat
(Virgin Records)

MUCH has been made of Willy Mason's age - the casual listener would be hard pushed to deduce that the gravelly voice showcased here belongs to a 20-year-old from white-bread New England haven Cape Cod.

But the soul and the strength that runs through every track shows that Mason is a prodigious talent.

He hails from strong folk singer stock and this is never more obvious than on the Loudon Wainwright-flavoured Still a Fly.

The title track sees him in mellow mode and album opener Gotta Keep Moving has more of the blues about it than Jack White could dream of.

The anthemic single Oxygen is the album highlight, a new wave of musical and lyrical brilliance, with the essence of "now" baked right in: "We can be stronger than bombs if you're singing along and you know that you really believe/ We can be richer than industry as long as we know there's things that we don't really need."

Mason delivers the musical equivalent of his home town's famous chowder - hearty fare that's full of goodness.