Photo by Bryan Mir
Willy Porter has been a recording artist for 25 years, but none of his albums sounded as fully developed as his latest, Human Kindness. He likened the recording process to the work of a painter, blending pigments, changing colors and playing with shapes until the image on canvas is finally picture perfect. “I mixed the record myself and gave myself time,” he explains. Just less than three years of time spent recording and completing the project—time enough to consider every aural color.
If some of the earlier recordings documented Porter’s songs at particular moments, Human Kindness finds him playing George Martin in his basement Abbey Road to craft something larger than the songs themselves. The new one is also more of a band record than some past efforts, powered by Dave Adler’s keyboards and held steady by bassist Bryan Mir and drummer Dave Schoepke. With Paul Cebar and Peter Mulvey on guitars, “Elouise” conjures up the ghost of New Orleans funk; the Carpe Diem String Quartet and Adler’s Mellotron are at the heart of the title song and suggest a grand production number from the early days of progressive rock; “Walking with the Man’s” deep, subtle sonics suggest Tchad Blake’s productions for Los Lobos. “A Love Like This,” with Carmen Nickerson sharing the lead vocals and backed by a trio of horn players, is a tribute to Motown. Jethro Tull’s Martin Barre, with whom Porter has toured, added the guitar solo to “Try to Forget.”
Many of the songs Porter recorded for Human Kindness didn’t make the final cut. “Everything had to work together as an album—a cohesive whole,” Porter explains. “The disposable singles culture is something I’m not interested in. I wanted a human record with the mistakes and errors that make you listen deeper for the ultimate message of the music. ‘Out of time and out of tune,’ as Paul Cebar says. I wanted to build soundscapes in which the songs can function.”
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The lyrics touch on many subjects. “Chippewa Boots” cleverly negotiates the end of a relationship through the division of possessions and memories. But the overall tone whispers uplift. Porter recounts how “the title track occurred to me when I was in England.” Almost hit by a bus, he was saved by an observant companion. “I felt the wind of the bus as it roared by. Then I was in New York and saw the same thing happen to someone else. The songs on the album radiate from the title track like spokes from the hub of a wheel. I believe most of us will do the right thing—we’re hardwired to each other. I want the record to represent that.”
Willy Porter Band plays the Pabst Theater on Friday, March 27 with Ryan Holman at 8 p.m.
