Willis will brighten your day

Daphne Willis

What to Say

Vanguard Records

Rocks like: Sara Bareilles, Brett… Daphne Willis

What to Say

Vanguard Records

Rocks like: Sara Bareilles, Brett Dennen

B

There are albums that change your life, and there are albums that brighten your day. Daphne Willis’ debut record, What to Say, is of the latter variety.

After an employee at Vanguard Records heard Willis’ songs on the in-flight music channel of an airplane and took interest, the smoky-voiced 22-year-old dropped out of college to pursue her musical career full time. The result is What to Say, a pleasant, good-natured and largely forgettable debut.

Coasting through its twelve songs, the album never ventures far from midtempo, mellow ruminations on everyday life. Accordingly, her lyrics are straightforward and conversational to the extreme (two songs in a row begin with the word “well”), and many lines border on inane. In the road-tripping “Far Away,” Willis asks, “Should I stop? Or, do they take Visa? That would be fantastic, cause plastic can rhyme when you don’t have the time to get cash.”

The music fares better than Willis’ often wandering words — punches of acoustic guitar and horns ensure that, if nothing else, “What to Say” will lift your spirits during its short 40-minute run.

What to Say is far from the cutting edge of the music spectrum, but Willis’ voice never hits a sore note. Expect nothing more and nothing less than mellowness.