Album Review : Haley Blais - 'Wisecrack'
Indie artist Haley Blais returns with her remarkable second album Wisecrack.
The singer-songwriter’s sophomore album is her best piece of work yet, it’s vulnerable, raw, and sensitive.
Blais grew up in British Columbia, Canada and is a classically trained vocalist. She released her debut EP Late Bloomer in 2016 and has since released a second EP Let Yourself Go in 2016, and her debut album Below the Salt in 2020.
If Below the Salt captures the essence of coming of age, then Wisecrack wonderfully captures the chaos of being in your twenties and feeling many emotions at once.
Opening with Soft spot for monarchs, a short but sweet track with layered vocals and voices stacked on top of each other, it’s a perfect intro to the record.
Next, we have two of the five singles from the album: Survivor’s Guilt and Coolest fucking bitch in town. The former is a song that is polished and utterly complete, shining like silver. Drums open the song, followed by an assured and firm acoustic guitar. “God, what a mess I must seem/In the back of a theatre/The scene where the dog has to die”Blais starts off the song, getting straight to the point. The production is fantastic, which is something of a theme throughout the record. Acoustic guitar and steady drums lead the track, giving it an assured air, even though lyrically it’s anything but. “You can fool me once and I’ll believe you/If you fool me twice, I’m like putty in your hands” she sings, resignedly.
Then we’re on to Coolest…which was released back in March 2022. Lyrically, this song really affects me. It is written so beautifully and thoughtfully, with so much tenderness. I’m not sure if Blais is singing about an actual experience or of a friend or if it’s entirely fictional. Either way, she has written an exceptional song. The whole of the first verse is excellent and touching. “Your mother’s getting married in the fall/And you know that she is happy/That things will be okay/But you wonder what’ll happen Christmas Day” she sings of someone whose parents are no longer together, capturing the way it fractures a family.
Another couple of highlights are Matchmaker and Concrete. Matchmaker was released back in May, and I loved it instantly, much like every single on the record. It’s such an interesting track, with a hooky melody and creative production. “Something about me/I like stability” Blais sings, frankly. “What’s in a person? If we’re nothing but dust “She asks. Blais revealed on Instagram that that line is her favourite that she has written for this record, and it’s certainly memorable.
When I first heard Concrete, my jaw dropped. The track blew me away and I did nothing but just sit and listen to it, taking in every single note and chord. It features a stunning harp, which sells me instantly. That combined with the dream-like quality of the track and wonderful vocals is a winning combination. Listening to Concrete felt like paddling leisurely along a river on a beautiful summer’s day. A song you want to live inside.
Next come The Cabin and Baby Teeth, the final two singles to be released, and very different tracks. The Cabin is a song that has an almost sinister edge to it. Opening with sounds of birds chirping and rivers flowing, it flips the serenity on its head when a burst of boisterous production comes in out of nowhere, reaching an almighty crescendo, then disappearing into the undergrowth again. It will definitely catch you off guard the first time you hear it, I remember grinning madly when it struck me, feeling energised. Speaking on the origins of the song, Blais said: “I had my first sips of beer, first almost kisses. It’s a fluffy recollection until the guitars break through with their overbearing distortion like a roaring tidal wave and I’m thrown back into the discomfort of real time.”
And that is exactly what this track feels like. “I don’t wanna be the smoke inside the living room/Can we open up the patio doors?” She asks repeatedly.
Baby Teeth follows and is utterly different. It is enormously vulnerable, a nostalgic song about youth and childhood. “I want my baby teeth back/Stare in the mirror do my best late-night-show wisecrack” she informs us. “When I die, I know I won’t freak out” Blais repeats during the mantra-like outro, almost as if she’s trying to reassure herself.
The final track, Beginner’s guide to birdwatching, is a charming song that if half electro-half acoustic demo, and it works perfectly to close out the record. “One minute she wasn’t there/And then the next minute, there she was” is a line that’s repeated for at least of the song, and several voices are layered over one another.
Haley Blais has truly triumphed with Wisecrack, and something tells me that she will continue to do so for the duration of her career.
Words by Lucy Skeet
