Marlon Williams traces the tracks of his tears

WITH the release of one of the best breakup albums in a long while, New Zealand folk singer Marlon Williams has come of age as a songwriter.

Marlon Williams has come of age as a songwriter with his latest album.

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WITH the release of one of the best breakup albums in a long while, New Zealand folk singer Marlon Williams has come of age as a songwriter.

Make Way For Love, on Dead Ocean Records, follows hard — very hard, by the sound of it — on the heels of his split with long-time Kiwi girlfriend and fellow alt-folk star Aldous Harding. While it may not quite rank alongside those other love-gone-wrong classics Joni Mitchell’s Blue or Bob Dylan’s Blood on the Tracks, it represents a quantum leap from Williams’ first eponymous solo album of 2015.

That collection had a lighter feel, from the country hoedown of Hello Miss Lonesome, the slow ominous tread of Dark Child — the blackest track — to some solid acoustic folk ballads, and was only partially successful. Unfocused at times, excellent at others, especially his Jeff Buckley-like take on the traditional When I Was A Young Girl made famous by Nina Simone, it certainly showed Williams’ potential. But that beautiful voice — how he must tire of being compared to Roy Orbison! — was set back and occasionally drenched in swirling pedal steel and intrusive background vocals (I’m Lost Without You).

Marlon Williams' new album Make Way For Love.

On Make Way For Love, out on February 16 through Caroline Records, 27-year-old Williams opens up his heart and expresses his raw emotions using a stripped back variety of styles, all backed by his excellent Melbourne-based band the Yarra Benders and with his long-time collaborator and producer Ben Edwards in tow.

Here Williams’ voice is much more upfront than on the debut album and this collection of 11 songs is produced in California’s Panoramic Studios, bearing the imprimatur of Noah Georgeson who was responsible for albums featuring baroque pop and alt-folk luminaries Joanna Newsom, Devandra Banhart and Little Joy, among others. He also produced albums by Cate Le Bon, one of Williams’ musical heroes.

STANDOUTS

There are plenty of standouts — Love’s a Terrible Thing is a piano-backed ballad which, like so many of the tracks, has a distinct 1950s cast to it. I Know A Jeweller features a slightly ominous set of lyrics and cowboy guitar licks reminiscent of Marty Robbins. What’s Chasing You is a boppy number with words that belie its upbeat feel: “Too far, you’re too far away for me to pull you in and show you just what I can do with a lover who tries to bend with me too”.

But the highlight of the album is the duet between Williams and Harding, Nobody Gets What They Want Any More, which shifts constantly between major and minor. It’s a real heartbreaker with those two angelic voices quivering in harmony. Harding recorded her part remotely when she was in Britain — perhaps the ultimate irony.

Yet even here the song breaks away from a straightforward breakup ballad with a little Mamas and Papas-style hook in the middle.

The Yarra Benders are terrific throughout these memorable 11 tracks.

● You can pre-order Make Way For Love at JB Hi-Fi for $19.99 (CD) or $34.99 (vinyl).