New York, NY (Top40 Charts) South West England trio
William The Conqueror released today their new album
Maverick Thinker through Chrysalis Records. A record of cuts and bruises, wrapped within bittersweet leftfield rock n roll tunes,
Maverick Thinker is razor sharp, dripping with the blues and an oft sardonic vocal delivery.
William The Conqueror is fronted by Ruarri Joseph, a wry, patient storyteller, who has managed enough living to portray a world-weary wisdom in his words, but balances it all with enough optimism to suggest he hasn't quite lived.
Maverick Thinker is a record of short, sharp shots to the arm. Fuzzy college rock with chops, one foot lingering menacingly over the distortion pedal.
Recorded in Los Angeles at the infamous Sound City Studios, Ruarri, Naomi Holmes (bass) and Harry Harding (drums) rattled through the album's ten tunes at a breakneck speed. Which turned out to have been a good thing, because the sessions were cut short as the pandemic took grip. With the studio doors locked, the band spent a final, eerie day wandering a deserted Venice Beach before flying home early, captured by the band and featured in their video for "Quiet Life." All that chaos brings a certain unpredictability to an album that nods to some of the US lo-fi greats and yet arrives at something innately British.
As a fine accompaniment to the record,
William The Conqueror: The Podcast, an audio book version of a forthcoming novel, is found on all the usual platforms. It's written and narrated by Ruarri. A fictional (quarter autobiographical?) account of a musician trying to make ends meet, trying to be seen and to be acknowledged, and trying harder still not to care. Except of course he does care, otherwise why bother trying? And try he does. It's funny, wise, daft, endearing, and often melancholy while charmingly na�ve and wincingly relatable.
Track Listing:
01) Move On
02) The Deep End
03) Alive At Last
04) Jesus Died A Young Man
05) Quiet Life
06) Wake Up
07) Fiction
08) Suddenly Scared
09) Reasons
10)
Maverick Thinker
