Album Review: Will Joseph Cook - ‘Something To Feel Good About’
Will Joseph Cook has returned, armed with a moustache and ready to tackle the trials and tribulations that he faced in his early 20’s with his new album ‘Something To Feel Good About’.
Cook has had the world at his feet from a young age, beautifully capturing the carefree nature of your teens with his critically lauded debut ‘Sweet Dreamer’. We’ve seen bits here and there from Cook since, with the youngster taking a prolonged following the release of his first LP, but those experiences in the go-between have proven crucial in the creation of his follow up.
Fans of the now 21-year-old will be pleased to hear that the energy that powered ‘Sweet Dreamer’ is still ever present throughout the follow up, but certainly isn’t the be-all and end-all. We’re presented with a young man who still lives an “optimistic and loving lifestyle” but is shadowed by something “existential” and the “personal worries” we all struggle with at one time or another.
That constant tussle between exuberance and pessimism is an overarching theme right across ‘Something To Feel Good About’ right down to a literal split down the middle of these 12 tracks. The first half is filled top to bottom with hope and supercharged emotion, with the likes of the ridiculously good ‘Be Around Me’ and the title track being Cook’s sunshine brand of indie pop at its finest.
The latter half of the LP brings you back down with a sobering thud, exploring feelings of angst on ‘DOWNDOWNDOWN’, the shared existential crisis that comes with growing up on ‘21’, before beautifully signing off with the starkly vulnerable ‘Last Year’.
Cook’s talent for music has never been in doubt, but what makes ‘Something To Feel Good About’ so good is that added meaning and emotion that’s intertwined right throughout. Cook has perfectly captured what it is like to be young and finding your way in the world and all the emotion that can come with that, something that everyone has felt at one time, and it is this that makes ‘Something To Feel Good About’ Cook’s best work to date.
‘Something To Feel Good About’ the new album from Will Joseph Cook is available now on all major streaming platforms.
Words by Danial Kennedy