Will Wood Releases Two Albums Within 12 Months
Will Wood is an avant-pop artist from New Jersey that has been making strides and breaking boundaries within the recorded music industry since his 2015 debut album Everything Is A Lot, as Will Wood and the Tapeworms. Will Wood dropped “The Tapeworms” from his name since 2020 but still features the band members on his newer works.
Will Wood’s The Normal Album was released to the public in July of 2020, amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, and, in true Will Wood fashion, continues to expand upon and break musical expectations. Musically, Will Wood reaches and derives from a variety of genres including doo-wop, in songs such as “Suburbia Overture: Greetings from Mary Bell Township!/(Vampire) Culture/Love Me, Normally” and “I/Me/Myself,” and ska and disco in songs like “2econd-2ight-2eer (that was fun, goodbye.).”
From a lyrical standpoint, Will Wood and The Normal Album tackles a lot of important issues plaguing society today, especially while many were and still are affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. The largest issues that Will Wood discusses throughout this album are regressive ideas about mental health and the idea of normalcy in contemporary society. “Marsha, Thankk You for the Dialectics, But I Need You To Leave,” “Love, Me Normally,” and “The Most Important Thing In The World (Memento Mori)” are the three biggest examples of Will Wood’s discussion of these vitally important topics that many artists would not even attempt to talk about.
Flash forward ten months and Will Wood released another album. This newer album serves as the soundtrack for a new comedy-horror podcast called Camp Here & There by Blue Mayfield & Nicholas Belov. The album consists of mainly instrumental songs, while maintaining the signature styles and influences present in his other songs. “Under a Monochromatic Sky” and “Yes to Err is Human, So Don’t Be One.” are two tracks on this album that best exemplify Will Wood’s signature styles and influences coming to the forefront on this album.
On the Camp Here & There (Original Series Soundtrack) album, there is one song in which Will Wood sings, called “When Somebody Needs You.” Like with many other songs on the soundtrack album, this song particularly stays true to Will Wood’s style both musically and lyrically. Although it is a slower more emotional song, Will Wood has not shied away from such styles and topics previously.
Despite Will Wood’s relatively new emergence in the music scene, he is definitely carving out a unique space for himself and the music he creates.
Be sure to subscribe to Will Wood on Patreon, check him out on social media, and check out The Normal Album and Camp Here & There, both the soundtrack and the podcast.
Words by Brendon Gardner
