Amie Street Artist Spotlight: Christopher Willits

Christopher Willits plays the guitar a bit like John Cage played the piano. His instrument of choice is there, softly buried beneath the effects of his home-brewed modifications, and the feeling is nothing less than a release every time his melodies cut through to the surface.

This isn’t to place Willits in the realm of the dense and inaccessible. In fact, it’s his combination of a summery pop aesthetic with the occasional diversion into glitch that so extends the life of the album.

In the hands of another artist a song like Medium Blue , between its uplifting bass line and spacily reverbed vocals, would wear out its welcome on your playlist after maybe a week. With Willits’ carefully obscurant production it takes on a new life with every listen.

If your music library ranges from “acoustic” on one end of the genre spectrum to “singer-songwriter” on the other end, this is the perfect album to kick yourself into a new musical space with a few bleeps and bloops. If you like what you hear, you can check out some other avant-pop albums from labelmates JDSY or Cepia.’