­Blue Willa, a four-piece band coming to you all the way from Tuscany, Italy certainly presents a roller coaster ride of events. The quartet released their self-titled, debut album earlier this year. Blue Willa delivers a unique sound with lyrics that create a definite opinionated voice.

The opening track, ‘Eyes Attention’, leaves a strong impression behind.  I associated the style and sound of this track with a soundtrack to a horror movie. The chant to Freddie Kruger came to mind. You know the one. “1-2, Freddie’s coming for you…” you get the picture! It has that vibe, that presence.

The introduction sets the scene.  Accompanied by high-pitched vocals, ‘Eyes Attention’, also conveys an air of schizophrenia, a collection of noises and voices that one has gathered. It’s fair to say the lyrics show no sign of this, but the music alone paints that picture. At times, the songs paint a picture on a blank canvas, using a palette of sombre colours. Blue Willa is a fine example of psychedelic rock.  A genre that emerged and progressed throughout the mid 60s, offering musicians the chance to showcase material written from a totally different perspective, disregarding the conventional song writing formula.

Listening to Blue Willa for the first time, it might come as a bit of a surprise for the average consumer or music lover. There seems to be a pattern occurring with Blue Willa, it seems as though the vocals sound slower than they should be, like they’ve been deliberately altered to illustrate a sense of confusion. This is apparent in nearly all tracks on the album. I would compare the band to the likes of Pink Floyd, (once known as psychedelic), Greatful dead, and Can, at times. We can start to see a resemblance, particularly in Pink Floyd’s ‘Astronomy Domaine’. The high-pitched and slowed down vocals accompanied with electric guitar riffs.  The self-titled debut album consists of ten tracks introducing music with a difference. (I know, I mentioned this earlier but bear with me here). Tracks like ‘Fishes’ convey a strong presence, with the hard-hitting drums accompanied by the even stronger presence of the electric guitar. Playing in riffs during the introduction of the track, suddenly, everything changes. The riffs become what seem to be traces of melodic instances, however, it’s Serena Alessandra Altavilla (vocalist), who leaves a strong presence in this song, displaying her emotions at full pelt, with no signs of holding back. There are other instances of spontaneity with Blue Willa normally occurring towards the end of a track. Tambourines sounding like a chant, and the riff of the strings coming in to create the atmosphere and then boom! – The guitars come in and say hello.

Blue Willa portrays a contrast of atmosphere, emotions, and sense of self. Take a ride on a musical roller coaster and experience the spontaneity of the guitar with heavy-hitting drums.

I suggest you look no further than Blue Willa!