Eat the Worm, singer/songwriter/producer
Jonathan Wilson's fifth studio album, is a showcase for a musician seeking to liberate himself from things he already knows. Since releasing
Dixie Blur in 2020,
Wilson has been busy producing for other artists (
Father John Misty,
Billy Strings,
Margo Price) and serving as
Roger Waters' guitarist and music director. He also encountered the songs of
Jim Pembroke, a British songwriter who moved to Finland, fronted
Wigwam, and issued a handful of weird, wily solo albums. They seduced
Wilson with their experimentation and strangeness; they simultaneously focused and distracted him. He began curating home-recorded demos, instrumental ideas, and fragments to foment new creations, he combined old lyrics and wrote new ones in seeming non sequiturs. While different from what he's released before, it bears enough of his signature to indelibly reflect his persona.
Wilson plays most instruments here, but also enlisted some guests. To be honest,
Eat the Worm really feels like
Harry Nilsson and
Randy Newman writing, recording, and drinking heavily in a late-night studio session. The lyrics are voluminous and framed by loopy, expansive production.
Opener "Marzipan" comes across as warped, vintage Brit-pop if it was written by
Tom Waits and performed by
Blur. "Bonnamossa" (yes, it namechecks the prolific blues guitarist) sounds like a psychedelic sea shanty with skittering synthetic beats, pillowy guitars, vibes, and strings. The humorous "Hollywood Vape" reflects the musical legacy of Laurel Canyon with a quiet, dreamy melody and acid-drenched production. "The Village Is Dead" is a string-laden rocker that channels music in the East Village from Cafe Wha to
Jimi Hendrix to
Stevie Ray Vaughan to jazz. The dreamy, pillowy "Wim Hoff" -- named for the Dutch extreme athlete -- offers truly baked lyrics: "...Hung out with Daniel Lanois/In a drug-riddled sprawl/We were smoking paradise/We were Lightnin' Hopkins' jawâ?¦." The single "Charlie Parker" is nearly a suite. It channels early the rock & roll of
Jerry Leiber,
Mike Stoller, and
Doc Pomus with strings in waltz time! It shifts into darkly tinged theatrical pop and then back again as
Wilson name-checks the Wright Brothers,
Kurt Elling,
Al Jarreau, and Larry Bird. The early rock returns under a scatting sax break that represents the iconic musician. A
Pink Floyd-esque slide guitar, synth, and string coda carry it out. A The early rock returns under a scatting sax break that represents the iconic musician. A Pink Floyd-esque Baroque piano and string pop introduce "East L.A.'" -- a searching ballad about aimlessness, artistic frustration, and stasis. Closer "Ridin' in a Jag" is maximal.
Wilson loosely stitches together Cali singer/songwriter fare and indie pop. (It feels like
Nilsson in the studio with producer
David Axelrod.) Its biting, humorous lyrics poke merciless fun at himself and L.A. entertainment culture before transforming into a tender love song. Fans of
Wilson's earlier records might struggle a bit with
Eat the Worm's many directions, but before long, the album, despite its sense of adventure, slots easily into his restless, immersive, utterly imaginative catalog. ~ Thom Jurek
