William The Conqueror | New album ‘Excuse Me While I Vanish” out today | Nationwide instores July & August

NATIONWIDE INSTORE APPEARANCES:

Fri 28th July (album release day) – Music’s Not Dead, Bexhill-On-Sea

Sat 29th July – Sound Knowledge, Marlborough

Sun 30th July – Rough Trade, Bristol

Mon 31st July – Banquet, Kingston

Tues 1st August – Truck, Oxford

Weds 2nd August – Pie & Vinyl, Portsmouth

Thurs 3rd August – Rough Trade East, London

Sat 5th August – Black Circle Records, Leighton Buzzard

Sun 6th August – Jumbo Records, Leeds

Album opener ‘The Puppet and the Puppeteer’, the almost talking blues-style verses contrasting with a typically spiralling, heart-warming chorus, explores an internal dialogue theme, an idea bordering on schizophrenia – who controls whom? On the ensuing ‘The Bruises’, a song with hints of Pearl Jam and even Roy Orbison in its stately melodic architecture, Joseph sets out his psychological stall more explicitly. “It’s about relationships and vowing to look forward instead of raking over things that ultimately don’t matter.”

Elsewhere, ‘Shots Fired from Heaven’ – like conspiratorial ‘90s Dylan getting it on with Soundgarden –examines sudden twists of fate while the soaring ‘Somebody Else’ takes wing on a joyfully vertiginous piano riff and finds Ruarri metaphorically punching the air with a mixture of triumph and relief (“She loves me still/Against all odds, against my will”).

Contrast arrives on the slow, soulful ‘L.W.Y.’, its succinct but unshakeable chorus oscillating poignantly between the phrases “I’m lost within you/I’m lost without you”. Another engaging detour arrives in the shape of ‘Elsie Friend’, evincing Joseph’s late-developing regard for Paul McCartney’s songwriting in its delightfully Beatle-esque melody and the ‘Eleanor Rigby’-like parade of characters with which it is populated. “It’s about how little you might know someone for real, yet you construct who you think they are in your head.” A sense of warm redemption emanates from album-closer ‘In Your Arms’ – a song that tips a hat to both Bill Callahan and The Band in its intimate yet hymnal progress. Its aching chorus attests to a sense of deliverance, albeit qualified by a wry note of existential doubt (“In your arms, babe/If just for now”), before everything ascends to a screeching, angular climax riff – expression carried beyond words.

By this point, the album’s winning blend of melody and ensemble dynamics has taken hold, with Joseph’s ability to speak his truth through layers of poetic imagination and projected character.