A bit of a mysterious enigma, Willie Wisely is one of those rare artists that are truly unpredictable, even though the musical genre he subscribes to remains the same. A pop artist, he writes songs of happiness and despair surrounded by swirling melodies and tight harmonies; a predictable formula for most, but not for this artist. With Parador, Wisely has gotten over the need for certain effects and gimmicks that worked well for his early albums and replaced it, simply, with phenomenal songs…..eleven of them to be exact. His growth as a songwriter over the last eight years since turbosherbet was released is most evident in mature, emotional tracks like “Through Any Window� and “Too Quick To Love.� One might call these tracks deep, heartfelt……McCartneyesque; if McCartney actually wrote from his soul, which Wisely seems to do effortlessly. The album is heavy on the mid-tempo ballads (a good thing), enabling the listener to deeply feel the lyrical angst in many of the tracks. As soon as you get comfortable with Wisely’s moderate-tempo story telling you are swept off your feet by the transitional “Stayin’ Home Again� which raises the tempo bar as well as the lyrical mood. “Altitudes� and “Let Me Run Wild� are pure Wisely sing-along chorus, power pop tracks of the first order! Throw in the album’s near pristine production quality and in Parador you have an exceptional study in pure pop brilliance.
(Release date: April 11, 2006)
