The Smokehouse Presents singer-songwriter Wesley Gonzalez on Friday 16th September 2022.
Tickets £9+bf: https://bit.ly/SHPwesgonz
Support comes from PleasureInc.
When it comes to songwriting, Wesley Gonzalez has always been a rule maker. There’s always been a plan for each album, right back to when he was a teenager, through his tenure as leader of Let’s Wrestle and over two critically lauded solo albums that translated his undeniable pop smarts from the scuzz of rough lo-fi to the rich production of mid-70’s soul and funk. When it came to writing his latest record Wax Limousine, however, Gonzalez had grown tired of rules.
“This new album was a process of letting it come out naturally, there was no 'plan' for what this was supposed to be” Gonzalez says. “It was a brilliant experience to just write with no pretence at all and to not worry about something fitting a certain musical narrative. The lyrical themes are the connective tissue of the record which came about organically from life experience rather than something altogether more conceptual.”
That’s not to say that the songwriter has left his penchant for an earworm hook behind. He is, after all, the sort of artist who possesses the rare knack of naturally being able to bring things back to the centre no matter how far leftfield he goes, and Wax Limousine is resplendent with the sort of snappy melodies that have long been a hallmark of his writing no matter what style he pushes himself towards.
Take the two tracks you may have already heard: the title track possesses an almost Randy Newman-like quality in its piano-led soul, Gonzalez going big over an increasingly theatrical build. A Taste Of Something, meanwhile, bounces along atop joyous synths and funk-fuelled rhythm guitar as Gonzalez toes the line between croon and cry.
Captivated by the style and character-driven storytelling of hiphop, but built on the brothers’ experience playing in indie and punk bands, Norwich duo PleasureInc’s music features a refreshing mix of eclectic sounds. Fusing indie rock and psychedelia with hip-hop, dance and jazz, the duo conjure a 90s aesthetic sprinkled with modern tendencies, falling somewhere in-between Gorillaz, Stone Roses, Beastie Boys and Peace.