WYATT MOSS-WELLINGTON – GEN Y IRONY STOLE MY HEART

This is the tale of two albums. One is called Gen Y Irony Stole My Heart, by Wyatt Moss-Wellington, a Sydney-based artist. Growing up with his father’s record collection, he developed a taste for English folk music and psychedelia, and became an adept multi-instrumentalist.  He writes sprawling, heartfelt songs with idiosyncratic arrangements, like Coming Down, with its mellotrons and spiky rhythmic shifts. His singing has a cracked, fey quality, equal parts Nick Drake and Syd Barrett. He can reach places with his writing that others can’t: Arguments is as remarkable a song as I’ve heard lately, describing how childhood trauma stays with us well into adulthood. “I don’t stand for anything,” he sings, his delivery so raw, vulnerable, and simple it almost seems arch, “I just want peace and quiet.” The other album is also called Gen Y Irony Stole My Heart, and it’s marred by endless noodling, cringey jokes and bad rapping. That the two albums reside on the same disc is a shame, because I think Moss-Wellington is a real talent, and he’s sold himself short here.
** 1/2