The first time I heard William Sanford I didn’t realize what I was in store for. I was writing about his latest single at the time called “Do the Buttcrack,” a humorous and satirical slapstick song packaged as “the next and up and coming TikTok sensation.” Obviously, when you see something like that as you’re scrolling / thumbing through a feed, you go, “Yup. I will be writing about this now.” I took the plunge you could say. It turned out to be quite The Pelagic Plunge, if you will. What I discovered in writing about William Sanford is that he is an uber talented pianist and fantastic composer. All the while up and to that point of me initially learning about his music, he had been releasing eclectically psychedelic and trippy soundscapes since 2019. Albums, singles, and EPs (oh my). An absolutely fascinating guy with an equally interesting sense of humor, I’ve written about him a few times since then and had a neat opportunity to interview him in 2022. He’s made great strides as an artist lately, landing on several editorial playlists on Pandora.

What Sanford references as influence is a vast, on-going list. Beginning with what I think are the somewhat expected citations, his approach to composition is inspired by (but not limited to) The Beatles, Nine Inch Nails, Tori Amos, and Tool. All of which make sense to me, I find all of those artists to be compositionally minded. What I find most interesting is Sanford’s mention of other things like visual arts such as surrealism and expressionism as influence. He possesses a degree and background in philosophy and credits existentialist writings for inspiration in his musings, as well as a fascination with Meta-modernism. In a way, I see Sanford as somewhat of a musical answer to an oddball lingering question that has resided in the back of my mind for years: “What would it be like if George Martin was also on LSD when the Beatles made those records??”

William Sanford has put out a new soundtrack recently (last month – December 14th) titled, “Deep Mollusca,” a full-length album. Like his previous releases, there’s a bit of an audible journey that comes along with it. When Sanford drops an album, it’s accompanied by a press release on his website that serves as field guide, a backstory to the music. I’ve likened it before to having a programme digitally. So, let’s crack this thing open and see what is in store for us on “Deep Mollusca,” shall we?

As I move to press play, I read how Sanford describes the scene and sets the stage per the press release:

“But what, what is up?
Our last album together saw us hanging out with Mr. Gramophone and catching some “Boomer Vibes.” Where that record was a kaleidoscopic tour of psychedelic nostalgia, this one goes deeper… and darker.”

Well alrighty then! The record kicks off with “The Pelagic Plunge,” which should be a full circle moment for those who might have been curious about the wording I used earlier (that’s called foreshadowing …*winky face*). The track, in line with the “pelagic” context in the name, sounds like we are at sea or in the ocean. Sanford describes this part of the album as exploring the depths after a plunge that is either a “leap of faith, or despair… or maybe both.” We are (in reference to the story) what Sanford refers to as a “faceless protagonist” and it is implied that we are a kin to some kind of invertebrate, hence the use of “Mollusca” in the title. For those of you publicly educated like myself, I’ll save you the Google search, I learned that it’s a species of what looks to me like a snail. That oversimplification probably drives a biologist crazy somewhere, but hey, this is what I’m working with here. The next part of the trip is a movement in which we are seeking shelter from predators, finding ourselves in the deep sea after the plunge, an abyssal depth. Hence the title of the second track “Abyssal Solenogastres.” The track is a funky, electronica type of song that vibes to the feel of actively seeking out shelter.

“Neopilina” begins. It’s an upbeat song in line with the story that invokes a sense of optimism, specifically friendship. Or as Sanford puts it, we meet some “slimy, squirmy comrades.” Our odyssey continues with us finding means of sustenance or possibly subsistence, it’s unclear by my interpretation how well we are thriving. “Manna From Above and/or Marine Snow” would imply a blissful sustenance. “Legends of The Whale Fall” could be as well, but given the stark nature of what a whale fall is and some of the noisier ambience at the end of the song I ponder whether it’s subsistence. Albeit, whale falls are a natural, plentiful resource for many organisms. At least I think so… again, I am by no stretch of the imagination any kind of marine biologist. I probably couldn’t even play one on T.V. – Bonus points for the subtle reference to that Brad Pitt movie, there’s that interesting Sanford sense of humor again.

Speaking of subtle references, that brings us to “Muusoctopus’s Garden.” In reference to the story, Sanford describes meeting a group of Octopodes guarding their brood. And that aligns with the tracks vibe, it invokes a sense of wonder. Sanford narrating the story in the press release states that we are “malcontent” with our condition, so we swim back towards the surface in “Where Bathayal Became Twilight.” An interesting piece that features some really nice piano playing. The music still makes me feel like I’m swimming in the water overall, but this piece kinda also has me questioning whether I’m in the bathyal zone or somewhere in Pepperland.

If you were anticipating or waiting for the darkness like me, I do believe this is where we, the “faceless protagonist,” start to experience some. “A Sea Butterfly Amongst the Haloplankton” sets up “The Terrifyingly Beautiful Lives of Sea Angels” to depict sea butterflies being preyed on “mercilessly,” rendering the water to be uneasy in “The Blood Red Waters of the Photic Zone.” And here I was thinking the deep was the danger! This song is an interesting mix of lo-fi, synth, and plenty of cool contemporary piano. It features the artists Buggly and F-R-A-G-G-I-L-E.

Thus, as the tale of the score goes, we venture back to the deep amidst the chaos happening at the surface in “Back to Benthic.” The song sounds like a dance song. Dabbling in electronica, EDM elements, and various voice samples. I don’t know, by my ear it sounds like there’s a rave going on down there. The party is short lived once “Dentalium’s Detritus Dinner” begins, if you were wondering where Sanford shares sensibilities with Trent Reznor, as mentioned before, this song would yield some examples. Maybe the deep isn’t as safe as we had thought. It’s about mysterious creatures that perform bizarre rituals, repeat mantras, chants, and consume debris. I don’t know, seems kind of like primates to me. Here I was thinking we were safe in the deep, but now we’re apparently in a cult. At least it sounded like a fun one towards the middle-end though when a voice comes on to say “Yeah, and after that, everybody dannnnccced.”

Alas, the invertebrate we are, we crawl. Upwards once again we go with “The Neritic Crawl” finally arriving onto shore, and joining forces with clams and oysters in “Rainbow Lipped, Mother of Pearls” along the way. Sanford makes use of that electric piano sound I’ve liked in a lot in his previous work on that particular tune.

And the crescendo, my friends? Despite a seemingly better experience this time around on the surface, in “Despite Gumboot’s Armor” we are pecked at by sea gulls and “find ourselves alone” as Sanford puts it. The song credits “feat. A Beached Whale,” which is again I think some of Sanford’s internal humor/dialogue regarding the backstory of the score. Ultimately, there is closure to the story, a moral to the story if you will, and I don’t think I could put it any better than Sanford does himself:

“Up here, despite all of our struggle and adventure, the only thing we find is a Beached Whale; a bloated sacrifice covered in flies. And on these sandy shores, we gaze up at the sun and ask “But what, what is up? Up from the floor?” The irony is that when we only dream about what is above, we cannot see how far we have crawled.”

Thanks for taking the trip with me! For my two cents, that is the best part of following William Sanford and his work. You take the time to sit down, take it all in, imagine it, etc. In a way, you create this subliminal visualization type of thing in the back of your mind when listening again later. I often listen to his work when I’m cooking, gardening, stuff like that. And having the stories mapped out in my distant memory makes it all the more a cool experience.

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Official Website | TikTok | Instagram | Spotify

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