Will Wood (Is Hard to Crack-- Would You Get Me an Axe?)

 

 Will Wood is -- well, bombastic is a good way to describe the opening of many of his songs. 2econd 2ight 2eer opens with a blaze of trumpets and horns, Laplace's Angel does the same with a descent of brass screams, Willard! with a symphony of woodwinds and other horns. These are not representative of all his work, some songs like Vampire Reference in Key and Cicada Days open with softer guitars, lulling strums and quieter piano supports. But the likes of Willard, Laplace's Angel, Thermodynamic Lawyer and such are the face of Will Wood's work-- loud, sure, if not slightly crazed.

The Will Wood persona follows up and plays into this slight crazed effect he has -- his live shows are described as 'delightfully unhinged', at times intentionally botching his own performances for his intended message to reach the audience. The subject matter of his songs-- brimming with a positive post-modern and sligthly nihilistic humor-- fits with the Will Wood persona, which he describes as playing on questions of the self, how malleable they are, and the impositions of social norms onto the self-- I/Me/Myself is a piece that deliberately plays on gender, and is about his exploration of gender queer identity, before settling on his identity as a man; " I once identified as genderqueer, until I realized that my attraction to traditionally feminine things did not interfere with my identity as a man." Fan reactions to I/Me/Myself is divided because it plays with gender like this, with the resounding message of the song itself being that gendered identities have a certain fictional and twistable nature to them-- the act of self-identification and fluidity of gender makes clear cut gender theory difficult, and the nature of I/Me/Myself is to play on and undercut those expectations. Self-importance plays in contrast with self-deprecation -- The Main Character as compared to Against the Kitchen Floor.

Will Wood's songs speak to alternative cultures, particularly gaining a fandom known for queerness and nuerodiversity, and there is good reason for this-- many find that his songs reflect their experiences well. I/Me/Myself, as already spoken, deals with gender roles and expectations. Willard! speaks especially well to nuerodiverse experiences, expositing a character with incredible empathy as well as incredible confusion at humanity-- their disgust, their social realties.

The lyricism of Will Wood is also simply- incredible. Willard! features a mouse (of which the main character speaks to) named Socrates, as referring to Socrates' allegory of the cave, Laplace's Angel plays on Laplace's Demon, Outliars and Hyppocrates: A Fun Fact About Apples opens excellently on a verse about the apple of Eden, and Black Box Okultra has too many references for me to properly list and name. Not only is everything a reference to another, but they are references they carry well-weight-- the allegory of the cave could refer to those 'enlightened' by leaving the cave becoming social pariahs, outcasted in the same way the narrator of Willard! describes.

Will Wood's process seems just as spontaneous as his songs make him seem, just popping into his head and working with the specific characters of the instruments at his disposal to create the overall feel of his finished works. He works with mania, from smashing his face on his keyboard and dressing up -- that creates his music not simply music, but a kind of performance art as well.

Other resources:

https://americansongwriter.com/will-wood-talks-process-funding-and-new-tune-love-me-normally/

https://nyunews.com/arts/music/2021/12/02/willwoodreview/

https://www.reddit.com/r/willwood/comments/jb97xe/imemyself/