Chris Wills
This Place Ain’t For Me
The Brill Building may be a distant memory, but the singer-songwriter style inspired by that structure hasn’t gone away. There are still sparking talents like Chris Wills writing and performing their own material and still able to move your jaded soul. Wills hails from New Jersey, but he sounds like he’s from some genteel southern town, trapped in the jaws of some serious moral argument. This six track EP impresses at every turn: his voice is clear and gently, his lyrics tug at your jaded heart and the arrangements here are radio ready.
Title track “This Place Ain’t for Me” creates a word poem of a guy past his sell-by date hoping to still catch the girl of his dreams and reproduce in a positive, supportive manner. “Please Don’t Turn Out My Light” is another sad love song; the lyrics are brief and don’t look all that impressing on paper, but Wills rips the misery and desperation inherent in each of them and plops it right into your ear buds. Behind him we hear a harp, hand claps and speed picking guitar. This may be a short collection, but this guy feels like he has the chops to run far and make a big mark. You heard it here first.
