William Prince - Reliever

William Prince - Receiver

3.9

Rating

3.9/5

Flyctory.com Pros

Amazing voice
Superb lyrics
Very characteristic and unique music

Flyctory.com Cons

Sometime too monotonous

Some five years after his solo debut album, William Prince is back in the list of country music album releases. Reliever has been released on 7th February 2020. As the artist received quite some awards for his debut album, I really looked forward to hear new stuff from him.

William Prince – About The Artist

William Prince was born in Selkirk, Manitoba. His family, however, moved to Peguis First Nation in his childhood. Nowadays, he is based in Winnipeg. He is not only famous to perform solo, but he is also part of the band Indian City. He became professional musician at the age of 16. Some four years later, his debut album Earthly Days was his breakthrough. For example, he won the Western Canadian Music Award as as the Aboriginal Artist of the Year. The album also won a Juno Award in 2017. In the meantime, Prince was also quite successful with Indian City, especially their 2017 album Here & Now has been well-rated.

William Prince – Reliever – Track By Track

If you listen tot he album, you have 43 minute in 11 Tages.

1. The Spark

What an amazing voice! If Reliever is your first point of contact with William Prince, you will be amazed how his singing is soaking you into his stories – and the first one is already one of the most catching ones of the whole album – wow!

2. Wasted

Gotta love what you do, babe
For that jingle jangle
Cause we only get a few days
Nobody makes it outta here anyway
What puts a shuffle in your shoes, babe?
That’s the thing worth chasing
Gotta love what you do, babe
So not a day goes wasted
Don’t let a day go wasted

With this stronger rhythm play of the song compared to the more gloomy first song, Wasted sounds significantly more easier and lighter. Overall, it more feels like a sung poem to me – the melody is comparably simple and maybe even a bit too repetitive from my point of view.

3. Reliever

The title track is slow and intense. William Prince again feels more like a musical storyteller to me – music to close your eyes and listen to the words and metaphors.

4. Always Have What We Had

With 5:10 minutes, this is the longest tale in William Prince’s Reliever storybook. I love the beautiful arrangement of the song, this cushion of background music, based on which the lyrics are core of the song.

The video does not fully reflect the album version:

5. Old Souls

After five very deep and even melancholy minutes of Always Have What We Had, it is good to have some lighter tunes again. Old Souls is likely one of the best “just listen to” songs, There is more rhythm, the voice is not as intensely arranged as in the songs before.

6. That’s All I’ll Ever Become

The acoustic guitar is doing a light country music rhythm in this song and there are even some backing vocals in this song, which makes it another good listening and radio quality song. It however feels a bit too unvaried and too monotonous towards the end of the song.

7. Leave it by the Sea

If you arrange your music as minimalist as William Prince does – very background acoustic guitars and a very limited drum kit – and more or less just rely on the vocals and your voice, you always run into the situation that your songs all sound the same. I first thought this when I started to listen to Leave It by the Sea. Is it just another That’s All I’ll Ever Become? The song luckily gets some own character – but still, they are very close.

8. Lighthouse

A ship in the harbor will always stay safe
Tied up to a dock ain’t why it was made
Craves wind though the sails, it’s wood on the waves
Paired to The Great Unknown
One or two fathoms there live the spoils
But the price of the barrel ain’t worth the oil
When the season is over, steer it towards home through
The peace of some place to go

This song is again profiting a lot from the souly sound of Prince’s voice – and the amazing lyrics. Feel easy, is lovely!

9. The Gun

Doesn’t matter who you love, son
If you don’t love yourself some
She could be the only one and still not want to stay
If you can’t get a hold on
What’s been doing your soul wrong
Been hanging on for way too long
Like living with a loaded gun

To make this one short: my favorite song on this album. Listen to it, I love it – the perfect composition of this artist’s talents!

10. Heaven and Hell

In Heaven and Hell, Prince is showing his very deepest interpretation of his voice again. Wow, it is quite amazing.

11. Great Wide Open

Meet me in the great wide open
Where the milk and honey pour free
We’ll all lay down what burdens us now
In the great wide open so free

Another intensive track, which just gives a great finish of this album.

William Prince – Reliever – Spotify

Here are the songs of Reliever.

William Prince – Reliever – My View

If you want to have a good time, drink and have party, only very few songs of this album may be right for you. Reliever is very intense, it sometimes feels even a bit too melancholy and intense to me. Overall, William Prince has definitely produced a good album, though, which is unfortunately sometimes a bit too repetitive. Nonetheless, I love his amazing voice, his songwriting and that the album has a very own character. I cannot guarantee that you will love his music (I likely could not do so at any artist), but I recommend you a listen.

William Prince – Reliever – On Tour

William Prince will be touring Europe in late March and early April 2020. Thereby, he will hit Germany, the UK and Ireland.

Mo 23.03.2020	Hamburg, Goldener Salon
Tu 24.03.2020	Berlin, Privatclub
Th 26.03.2020	Dresden, Ostpol
Su 29.03.2020	Bristol (UK), Rough Trade
Mo 30.03.2020	London (UK), Omeara
Tu 31.03.2020	Manchester (UK), The Castle
We 01.04.2020	Glasgow (UK), The Poetry Club
Th 02.04.2020	Dublin (Ireland), Whelans

Pictures incl. Banner: Artist Material

Flyctory.com Country Music Reviews

Here are reviews of all country music albums and EPs I reviewed earlier on the website: