Michelle Willis: See Us Through

Here’s a clever and slightly quirky delivery from singer/songwriter Michelle Willis. While playing piano, Wurlitzer and pump organ, she teams with Charles James/b and Thom Gill/eg while mixing and matching with various other strings and percussion. What makes this album stand out is Willis’ use of choirs both large and small as extra textures to frame and accent her own supple singling. You get celestial voices on anthems like “Home” and the trudging “It’ll Rain Today which mix with acoustic guitar and keyboards respectively. Stark, black and white sounds are found on “Solitude” while a folksy mix of strings create a homespun atmosphere on “Waking Morning.” She sounds most vulnerable with simple piano and keyboards on “Persimmon” and her voice is rich on “Battlefield (A Letter To You)”. How does she deliver these arrangements in concert?

www.universalmusicclassics.com

www.michellewillis.ca

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