Indie Light

Willow is an American actor and musician, and the recipient of several awards including various accolades, including a Young Artist Award, an NAACP Image Award and a BET Award just to name a few. We’ve covered the artist before on Indie Light, and you can click here to read more. Today, though, I’ll be reviewing her sixth studio album ‘Empathogen’ which was released May 3rd 2024. 

‘home’ opens with some fast paced vocables and light but energetic percussion that flows into actual singing, the result is a really impressive opening track, the right blend of rhythm and melody and a nice forward momentum that creates something memorable and pleasing to the ear. I really like how busy the track is, the piano coming in so seamlessly amongst the core melody you almost don’t notice it but then it just cranks the whole performance up a notch, creating something truly beautiful. 

‘ancient girl’ kicks off with light acoustic guitar, and it plays off and against Willow’s vocals really well, they create a pleasing harmony, and coming straight to this album after listening to her previous album I have two things I’d like to mention that pertain to this track and the previous, firstly while both are tremendous works of art, they are functionally very different in style and delivery, and it’s incredibly impressive to see her explore, attempt and master different styles and genres of music. Secondly, in both this album and its direct predecessor, Willow shows off the full range of her singing ability, this so far has used more of what is known as non-lexical vocables (and yes I totally knew that term before writing and didn’t look it up to make this point). To be clear that’s not a complaint either, she utilises them really well, using her voice itself as a musical instrument in order to establish and create the beat and rhythm just as much as the guitar which is woven throughout. 

‘symptom of life’ has a dancing piano melody, ever so slightly discordant to create an interesting tune, and the smooth richness of the chords are balanced out well by a consistent and steady drumbeat. I touched on it above, but Willow has such an amazing voice, and again as I touched on above, I love that she’s not afraid to tackle different style, really showing an incredible degree of skill but also a desire to develop and adapt and explore, using her talent to truly find the essence of her message. 

‘the fear is not real’ is softer and slower, a nice solid percussive beat sets a good rhythmic base for some truly sensational singing, her voice is hauntingly beautiful and you really get an opportunity to appreciate it in this track in particular. I also really like the strings, they almost take over from the drums as the track progresses, and create a bouncier feel to the track, but honestly the highlight in this track is her vocals which as i said a moment ago are just transcendent. 

‘false self’ opens immediately with more strong vocals, light on fire by a great drum fill, it creates a heavier, rougher beat that really works, and again as Willow continues to explore her style and adapts to the melody you truly get to hear the full extent and ranger of her voice and ability. I don’t recall in recent memory an artist who has genuinely had such an adaptable and free flowing style, she truly has a tremendous gift. 

‘pain for fun’ slows things down again, some deep and emotional acoustic guitar, delicate plucking create a fluid and vibrant melody, and then the singing, I’ve been complimentary thus far, and the album has genuinely merited those comments, but this is so deep and impactful that I had to take a moment before moving onto the next track just so I could just sit with it for a moment. It’s been one top notch track after another for this album but this track easily takes the top slot as my personal favourite on the release, and if you listen to just one song on ‘Empathogen’ based on my opinion let it be just a truly sensational number. 

‘no words 1 & 2’ has a really nice energy, a nice rise and fall, a clashing rhythm that creates a delightfully offbeat and engaging melody. As you can probably gather from the name there’s no actual vocals, just vocables, but it really works and at least for me after how impactful I found the previous track, it was a nice interlude. I also like how it’s functionally two tracks bookended together, the second half had lovely piano chords tied together with a frenzy, and abundance of the aforementioned vocables. 

‘Down’ has Willow’s voice take on a deeper, huskier profile, balanced well by light but deep percussive elements, sadly it’s surprisingly brief but it really leaves a mark nonetheless.

‘run!’ us bursting with the exact type of energy you’d expect based on the title and after a slower track really knocks things up a gear. It’s not explosive in its energy, instead it’s rhythmic and has a nice, solid pace and once again gives Willow the opportunity to play with style and melody to create something really engaging. I had lots of positive things to say about ‘pain for fun’ earlier and while they are massively different tracks, this one takes the number 2 slot for personal favourites on the album.

‘between i and she’ keeps the pace and momentum of the previous track and builds upon it, much faster, a thrumming guitar fills the space, creating a consistent backdrop, and Willow vocally, easily matches the energy and vibe, it’s surprisingly light on the percussion all things considered but it does not harm the track, instead using it sparingly to add texture to the overall beat. 

“I know that face.” shows yet another side to Willow’s voice, I like the balance between the even and rushed vocal delivery style it adds a nice feel and flow to the track, this and indeed the entire album has been a masterclass in style and substance, not a wasted beat or note, just a series of mature and engaging tracks that offer so much to the listener. Just like the previous track used the percussion sparingly, this was relatively light in terms of instruments, instead it very cleverly used the guitar’s rhythmic melody as an undercurrent to punctuate the vocal delivery. 

‘b i g f e e l i n g s’ opens with light and dancing chords, before the vocals and the core melody of the track just blast forward, I adored the momentum and energy of the track, it really helped to sell the vibe of the title and it’s a strong closer to what has been easily one of the best albums I’ve heard in a while. 

So that’s what I thought of Willow’s album Empathogen and if you want to check that out then head on over to Spotify. While you’re at it, make sure and support the artist by checking out their website, and by following them on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.