US singer-songwriter Will Stratton will be releasing his new album “Points Of Origin” on 7th March 2025 via Bella Union. The album, Stratton’s eighth, is the follow-up to “The Changing Wilderness” which was released in Spring 2021.
The record marks something of a departure for Stratton with less fingerpicking and guitar flourishes. Instead, while Stratton and his session team have by no measns abandoned the guitar, it’s moved to the back-burner, relying on more delicate piano and string ensemble overdubs that fade in and out.
It’s said to evoke many eras at once with flashes of Richard Thompson, Jerry Jeff Walker, Nick Drake (often a touchstone for Stratton) and even Thin Lizzy. Sober, unvarnished vocals front-and-centre of the mix also add novelty to Stratton’s work.
Stratton was born in Woodland, California in 1987, spent his formative years all over the greater Pacific Northwest and mid-Atlantic United States, and has lived and worked in the Hudson Valley town of Beacon, New York for the better part of the last decade.
He studied music composition at university and hasn’t been afraid to bring elements of his training to his career. Stratton released his first album in 2005 and took an extended break from 2012 to 2017 after being diagnosed with and treated for testicular cancer. His relationship with Bella Union began with “Rosewood Almanac” (2017). “Points Of Origin” is his third for the label.
Stratton has shared lead single ‘I Found You’. The song which features foreground soft piano and pedal steel guitar has a languid feel as Stratton reflects on relationships lost and found with a wistful vocal.