''The Normal Album'' is the third studio album by American musician Will Wood, released on July 10, 2020, by Say-10 Records. It was produced by Jonathon Maisto, who also produced his first album, ''Everything is a Lot''. The album was financed in part by a

crowdfunding Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising money from a large number of people, typically via the internet. Crowdfunding is a form of crowdsourcing and alternative finance. In 2015, over was raised worldwide by crow ...

campaign, which met its goal in its first day.

Trivia

Two songs eventually included in the live album ''IN CASE I DIE'', "Misanthrapologist" and "...And If I Did, You Deserved It.", had been intended to appear on ''The Normal Album'' and later its successor, ''"In case I make it,"'' but were omitted from both.

Release

''The Normal Album'' was partly financed by a

campaign on Indiegogo, as well as by subscribers to Will Wood's Patreon page. The Indiegogo campaign reached its funding goal within a day of its launch, and went on to raise nearly $28,000. The tracks "Love, Me Normally", "Laplace's Angel (Hurt People? Hurt People!)", and "...well, better than the alternative." were released as singles prior to the release of the album. The album was released on July 10, 2020, through Say-10 Records.

Reception

Jordan Blum of ''

PopMatters ''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, fi ...

'' wrote that ''The Normal Album'' "explores themes of normality, identity, morality, and other psychological traits", and called it "a thrilling mix of genres (

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

, new wave,

doo-wop Doo-wop (also spelled doowop and doo wop) is a genre of rhythm and blues music that originated in African-American communities during the 1940s, mainly in the large cities of the United States, including New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Chica ...

, and

disco Disco is a genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the 1970s from the United States' urban nightlife scene. Its sound is typified by four-on-the-floor beats, syncopated basslines, string sections, brass and horns, electric pia ...

among them)"; Blum highlighted the song "BlackBoxWarrior – OKULTRA" as being "a great glimpse into Wood's bold and brilliant aesthetic." '' Bleeding Cool''s Joshua Nelson gave the album a positive review, noting the "sardonic bite" and varying moods of its tracks.

Track listing

Personnel

Adapted from the album's liner notes. * Will Wood – piano and

keyboard Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

s, vocals,

ukulele The ukulele ( ; from haw, ukulele , approximately ), also called Uke, is a member of the lute family of instruments of Portuguese origin and popularized in Hawaii. It generally employs four nylon strings. The tone and volume of the instrumen ...

marimba The marimba () is a musical instrument in the percussion family that consists of wooden bars that are struck by mallets. Below each bar is a resonator pipe that amplifies particular harmonics of its sound. Compared to the xylophone, the timbre ...

glockenspiel The glockenspiel ( or , : bells and : set) or bells is a percussion instrument consisting of pitched aluminum or steel bars arranged in a keyboard layout. This makes the glockenspiel a type of metallophone, similar to the vibraphone. The glo ...

* Matt Berger –

alto saxophone The alto saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments. Saxophones were invented by Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax in the 1840s and patented in 1846. The alto saxophone is pitched in E, smaller than the B tenor ...

, clarinet, flute; bass vocals on "Suburbia Overture" and "Laplace's Angel" * Vater Boris –

upright bass The double bass (), also known simply as the bass () (or #Terminology, by other names), is the largest and lowest-pitched Bow (music), bowed (or plucked) string instrument in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding unorthodox addit ...

, bass guitar * Mike Bottiglieri – acoustic guitar, electric guitars * Mario Conte –

drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a she ...

s, percussion * Richard Cush – trombone * Seamus Ronan –

baritone saxophone The baritone saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of instruments, larger (and lower-pitched) than the tenor saxophone, but smaller (and higher-pitched) than the bass. It is the lowest-pitched saxophone in common use - the bass, contra ...

* Robert Schaefer – trumpet * Victoria Goettel – viola * Spencer Daniele –

didgeridoo The didgeridoo (; also spelt didjeridu, among other variants) is a wind instrument, played with vibrating lips to produce a continuous drone while using a special breathing technique called circular breathing. The didgeridoo was developed by ...

; Production * Jonathon Maisto – producer,

recording engineer An audio engineer (also known as a sound engineer or recording engineer) helps to produce a recording or a live performance, balancing and adjusting sound sources using equalization, dynamics processing and audio effects, mixing, reproduction, ...

, mixing, mastering * Kevin Guillorn – additional engineering * Matt Squire – producer, mixer, and

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...

(on "Love Me, Normally")

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Normal Album, The 2020 albums