British Act Westerman Aims to Bring Wide Range of Emotions to Rickshaw Stop Show
Photo Credit: Eric Scaggiante
Just hours before he was set to embark on an extensive North American tour, Will Westerman—the British native who records and performs under the moniker Westerman—was hit with a jarring bit of news. His bandmate and creative partner, Daniel McIntyre—a multi-instrumentalist responsible for numerous elements of the group’s live sound—was denied a Visa, suddenly casting significant doubt about how Westerman would pull off these shows.
Westerman had actually never even met in person with his touring drummer, Jacob Grissom—the only other band member who was cleared to tour—which made matters all the more difficult. Yet despite the incredible challenges presented by the last-minute roadblock, Westerman set out to make the best of a terrible situation, as he and Grissom engaged in a three-day crash course before the tour to determine how to play his songs as a two-piece outfit.
“Obviously, I wish this hadn’t happened, but at the same time, there’s always good that comes from these kinds of situations,” said Westerman. “It was kind of nice to strip these songs completely—to take everything away and then figure out how to rebuild the song in a way that makes sense. It’s kind of been incredible in a way, because it’s a reminder that there is no definitive way of playing a piece of music. I’m not going to lie—those first shows have been stressful, but the tour has really ended up being amazing.”
If any musician could be capable of paring back their sound under such inauspicious circumstances, it would be Westerman. Since his stirring, critically lauded 2020 debut, “Your Hero Is Not Dead,” Westerman has fearlessly explored avenues of minimalism and austerity, coercing atmospheric and ethereal sounds out of songs that are unfussy and skeletal. He is a worthy heir of his songwriting idol, Mark Hollis, the creative genius behind Talk Talk, which essentially invented the post-rock genre with their dual masterpieces “Spirit of Eden” and “Laughing Stock.”
“I love the way that he [Hollis] embraced space—how he left behind the ideas of rigid pop music,” said Westerman. “Something that always sticks with me is how he proved that space doesn’t mean emptiness.”
After spending extensive time working on his sophomore album, the ambitious “An Inbuilt Fault,” Westerman re-embraced the more cavernous, Dadaistic nature of Hollis for his most recent record, last year’s “A Jackal’s Wedding.” His current tour is in support of that album, and on April 4, he’ll perform at the Rickshaw Stop. He’ll be joined by opener Otto Benson, whose most recent album, “Peanut,” is one of the best releases of 2026.
Westerman wrote the album in large part about his time living in Greece, where he has called home intermittently for the past several years. His most recent experience was a five-week stay in Hydra, an island off the coast of Athens. Despite its relatively withdrawn production style, “A Jackal’s Wedding” has an undercurrent of warmth and brightness, imbued by a steady stream of billowing synth basslines.
Westerman said the sonic template was inspired by the unique brightness of the Athens skyline—a blaring beacon of light set against a countryside that can be overwhelmingly dark in the evening. Those feelings were amplified during the transition from dawn to night, when the sun setting added to the explosion of colors.
“There’s a kind of crazy over-saturation effect as the light is changing,” said Westerman. “I’d be going for a walk in the hills over Athens and there were these extreme visual sensations. I really wanted to translate that feeling musically into the record, to balance the light and dark sounds in a more pronounced way.
One powerful way Westerman is able to evince those feelings of polarity is through his voice, a rangy, melancholic instrument that conjures a range of emotions. On the XTC-inspired “PSFN,” Westerman sounds lilting and inspired, a contrast to the somber, reflective moments of tracks such as “Spring” and the opening dirge, “S. Machine.”
“I really try and play around with the registers because they can engender quite different feelings—I’ve been doing that most of my life,” said Westerman. “Certain songs have to be sung lower, just because I’m aiming for a specific emotion. Others have to be higher, for the same reason. Some of the songs just wouldn’t make sense for me if I didn’t sing them in a particular manner.”
With just one other member in tow for the tour, Westerman is wielding that formidable asset in ever more creative ways. Fortunately, he’s not one to bury his vocals underneath a wave of guitars or dissonant feedback, so these live performances are even more of a showcase for him to elicit that boundless range of audience sentiments from his delivery.
“Any time you go out on tour it’s a journey—and I mean that in more ways than one,” said Westerman. “Obviously, this journey has been different, because we’ve dealt with some difficulties. But, it’s still incredibly rewarding.”
Show Details:
Westerman with Otto Benson
Where: Rickshaw Stop
When: 8:45 p.m., Saturday, April 4
Tickets: $34, available here.