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Willy's recent CD, "Where the Humans Eat."

Island-grown talent Willy Mason has recently toured in Japan and Europe. In October, he signed a recording contract with Virgin Records U.K. File photo by Ralph Stewart

Willy Mason’s “Where The Humans Eat” (Team Love Records) represents an evolutionary step forward in the artistic progression of the 20-year-old singer/songwriter. The disc shows an increasingly deft sense of lyrical wordplay as Mr. Mason articulates the uncertainty of growing up in an increasingly fractured and cacophonous world. While Mr. Mason has often recorded and performed as a solo artist with an acoustic guitar, he is backed on the disc by a full band. The result amplifies rather than diffuses his vocal and lyrical skills, creating a full, rich, and accessible sound.

Mr. Mason recorded “Where The Humans Eat” in June, 2004 at Old Soul Studios in the Catskill Mountains in New York. He selected material from his songwriting efforts over the last two years. The disc begins with “Gotta Keep Moving,” a song with a driving drumbeat and twangy guitar line that suggests Lucinda Williams interpreting Paul Simon’s “Obvious Child” as Mr. Mason sings, “gotta keep moving, with a troubled mind following.”

“All You Can Do” features quality indie-rock production as Mr. Mason sings, “hopelessness is on the TV, infecting sea to shining sea....we tried pills and prescriptions, but drugs won’t cure this disease, hope is all we can do.” On “Still A Fly” Mr. Mason captures the essence of Pavement’s Stephen Malkmus as he sings in a dry, weary, cynical drone. The title track features bells cascading over electric guitar notes in a manner reminiscent of Nigel Goodrich’s production on the better efforts of Radiohead and Travis, while “Our Town” suggests a union of Pavement and The Kinks as Mr. Mason sings “is that a guitar or a machine gun? Don’t make me take it away.”

Mr. Mason wrote the song “Oxygen” while he was a student at Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School. In early December he began shooting the “Oxygen” video on the Island with director Tim Laursen. One scene, filmed among the sheep barns and pastures at Whiting Farm in West Tisbury on an icy morning, featured more than a dozen extras on the back of a flatbed trailer holding photos of other people in front of their faces before revealing their actual selves.

Last weekend, Mr. Mason performed two shows — Friday night, Dec. 17 at an in-store concert at Aboveground Records and a Dec. 18 performance at Offshore Ale with Maynard Silva. The well-attended shows offered an opportunity for Islanders to acquaint themselves with the unique talents of a young singer/songwriter who has opened for Roseanne Cash and the surviving members of the Grateful Dead and has performed in Japan and Europe. In February, Mr. Mason will depart for a tour of the United Kingdom, the next step in his dynamic, meteoric music career.

Julian Wise is a freelance writer, educator, and, since 1998, a frequent contributor to The Times, specializing in music, film, and performing arts.