On the Uncertainty of Signs
'Willing has advanced queer music in Australia' - 4ZZZ What if the inbox of a meme page held the keys to the city? Specifically, how people in it loved? That's precisely what Willing discovered upon opening his DMs to the romantics in his orbit. What followed was an erosion of the parasocial, and a disintegration of his microcelebrity in favour of something real. Over four months Willing dissected his audience, grilling affluent South Yarra zaddies, Gertrude mums, northside e-girls and queer-adjacent young professionals about their wildest, most romantic experiences. Their unifying trope: a willingness to see signs in everything. To find magic in the mundane. Little did he know -- and to his grand surprise -- this initially cynical research project would lead him to fall in love in the most annoyingly Julie Delpy way possible. (Picture a Linklater rom-com but make it kick-ons at the Heidi). And, as is the songwriter's way, a fountain of new material emerged. "On The Uncertainty of Signs" weaves this revelatory musical output with the love stories he scoured his DMs to retrieve. A cabaret for the natural wine generation and their parents who couldn't stand the stench. Sonically, it represents a departure from the theatrical pop he's known for, moving closer to the sort of adult contemporary boomer dads (and their woebegone gay sons) play in their Subaru Outback. Think Pretenders, Peter Gabriel, but mainly, Lana Del Ray. Joined on stage by a full band, this is a show for anyone who's navigated the intoxicating contours of love amid the chaos of modern life. A courageously cringe exercise in wholeheartedness as antidote to these apathetic times.
