Bunny
Released
Amateur boxer turned singer-songwriter, Willie J Healey’s previous albums had seen him try on scuffed alt-rock (2017 debut People and Their Dogs) and lush George Harrison-meets Harry Nilsson AOR (2020’s excellent Twin Heavy). 2023’s Bunny, however, saw Healy dressing up his songs in a sumptuous, soft-focused finery of gloopy funk grooves, Philly soul shimmers and disco sparkles. There’s something of David Bowie’s Young Americans in the album’s blue eyed soul glow (not to mention Lou Reed in the “Coney Island Baby”-like guitar lines strolling through opener “Woke Up Smiling”), but the winsome charm of Bunny is entirely Healey’s own.