Wesley Stace has released a new album of original songs, written by himself and David Nagler, titled One Last Heist. The Philadelphia-based English-American singer-songwriter, also known by the stage name John Wesley Harding, teamed up with Nagler on keyboards, synthesizers and more; Eddie Carlson on bass; Stéphane San Juan on drums; along with a whole host of guest musicians on various instruments, and even a string quartet — The Bergamot Quartet from NYC.
The album grew out of frustrations with the one before, as Stace recounts: “We’d intended the previous album Late Style to be the most elegant record imaginable, but COVID was a scruffy time and much of it was recorded in isolation in far-flung locations, without the chemistry and esprit de corps of musicians playing together in real time in the same space. It just couldn’t be done how we wanted. So the prime motive here was to go one better, to arrange the songs first, then record them as a band, playing live in the studio, to let it be a ‘players’ record.”
The music here is hard to fit into any one box. I hear elements of soul, funk, jazz, and rock, which vary in relative strength and proportion from song to song. The lyrics range from fun and clever, to hard-hitting. The instrumentation is rich and varied, with appearances from the trumpet, flugelhorn, flute, clarinet, saxophone, strings, and others, at different times and in assorted combinations — and I would be remiss if I didn’t mention those cool Hammond organ sounds too. It’s an eclectic collection, but one that ultimately feels remarkably cohesive.
The title song, “One Last Heist” is strong on the rock and soul vibes, between San Juan’s driving drums and Nagler’s rich synthesizer sounds. The lyrics — a master of his craft ready to do one last job before retiring forever — along with the overall musical effect, would make this the perfect song for a new Ocean’s film.
In “Hanging Up The Sickle” — another song about retirement, but this time with a Latin/Salsa feel — we hear the Grim Reaper appointing his unsuspecting successor.
Listening to the exotic “This Knowledge Dies With Me”, one easily imagines a scene straight from James Bond, with the title character stealthily navigating his way through some unusual foreign locale, about to purloin the mad scientist’s research. Once again Nagler’s keyboard and synthesizer adds a lot, along with a suitably haunting flute solo.
“Get It In Your Figures” is straight-ahead jazz with some fun lyrics about becoming a good performer — “it’s mostly perspiration, but genius helps.” My favorite line hits the nail right on the head in today’s age: “trusting your devices comes at a cost, when the signal’s down you know you’re gonna get lost.”
“In Our Own Time” is a charming bossa nova about star-crossed lovers, while in “I Say Lots Of Things” we hear a cad rather harmlessly nonplussed keeping track of his fictions.
“Thoughts And Prayers” really hits hard. The pain behind the song is palpable. “It’s always someone else until it’s you … you’d do something if you really cared, but thank you for your thoughts and prayers.” It’s a song of someone who has been through an obviously tragic experience, and is now feeling cynical and disillusioned by the world.
The album closes with possibly my new favorite song, “Hello Dead Horse”. I admit I laughed the first time I heard the lyric, “hello dead horse, can I flog you again?” Someday this reviewer will find a way to clandestinely fade-in this song during meetings with certain colleagues (they know who they are). It’s a really fun song.
In the end, there is a fascinating variety of songs here, but the overall theme seems to be a man looking back on his life — lessons learned, wisdom gained, maybe one or two regrets, but more fun than not — and putting it all together for one last heist.
Order One Last Heist on Bandcamp, or find more about the artist on his website at wesleystace.com.
