Rosewood Almanac is the sixth studio album by Will Stratton, musician currently residing in New York. Will studied philosophy for a short while before switching to the studies of music composition. He started playing piano when he was four years old, so there was no doubt about the direction in which he is going to go.
The title of the album is an homage to the instrument without which Will can not imagine his life and career –acoustic guitar. Almanac dedicated to guitar and almanac created with the support of that guitar is collection of sensitivity, acoustic and gloomy songs written with the skill of scrutiny of language construction. The artist has a lucid perception of the world and himself in the world. The predecessor Gray Lodge Wisdom was made after his struggle with testicular cancer and long chemotherapy. The release had a completely different heaviness and symbolic, while Rosewood Almanac is a story about recovery and celebration of life.
Will Stratton calls himself a student of Nick Drake, and his music is highly influenced by Leonard Cohen and Hank Williams. His idols are totally present in spirit, as the record sounds like melancholic and ethereal intersection of Cohen’s folk and desperately-cheerful country of Hank Williams. Still, the most prominent influence is Nick Drake. Light folk vocal, half-singing and half-speaking balances between despair and hope with tenacity express acceptance of inevitable misfortune. All of it is to be felt on this album full of personal and political connotations.
It unfolds with Light Blue where Will sounds cocky, as he is reflecting on his disease and overcomes it with a song. Although the song is personal, its vibration and conceitedness can be put in a wider context, especially with the verse Cause I need to know why it kills the young and melts the snow. The following Thick Skin introduces the slow rhythm that is going to rule until the very last track. Guitar emphasizes the moment of calmness and equanimity. The lyrics is imagined as the story of youth in a small American city. Your hometown, your new town, where do you want to be, How do you spell good fortune in a language much too old.
The most dynamic Manzanita is a mirthful folk celebration of love where we have a chance to hear a trumpet, while the vocal is more powerful than on any other song. It is interesting that when Will sings love songs, they sound cocky and proud. It’s as If he found the resistance in love. The album is closed by a beautiful ballade Ribbons, a typical folk song with dominant guitar and meaningful epilogue for almanac.
What a victory!
