Enigmatic London-based singer-songwriter Westerman, born Will Westerman, continues to clarify his vision of stark, understated, and deceptively complex pop music single by single. Today, he’s released the B-side to his strong recent release “Edison”: a slick, elegiac little tune called “Easy Money.” Like all of Westerman’s recent work, it is dominated by moody, phased guitar chording and a brittle backbeat recalling the silkier, knottier late ’70s and ’80s experiments of the likes of Gerry Rafferty, Joni Mitchell, and Aztec Camera. As with his previous singles of this year, the song is a collaboration with electronic producer Bullion, who allows a provocative amount of space in his arrangements for Westerman’s vulnerable and cryptic songs–this one, as the author puts it, emulates “a conversation I had many times over with someone I care about a lot”–to breathe.
The “Edison” / “Easy Money” single, as well as his single of his breakout tour de force “Confirmation” (with the similarly catchy and ruminative “I Turned Away” as the B-side) will be out on vinyl on August 17, ahead of a rumored EP coming this fall. Westerman will also be performing in the United States for the first time in late November, after a European stint which includes a series of shows with the Dirty Projectors in the UK, Germany, and the Netherlands (check out the full list of world tour dates here). Listen to “Easy Money” below.
