John Witherspoon – One Of Them (2025)
Review contributed by Bark PR.
On his third album, Liverpool’s John Witherspoon has crafted something genuinely affecting – a collection that wrestles with modern disconnection while refusing to surrender to cynicism. One of Them, released October 31st, finds the singer-songwriter at his most vulnerable and accomplished, transforming personal struggles with technology and isolation into eleven songs that feel universal.
Witherspoon has described this record as offering an “even split” between his light and dark sides, between faith in humanity and deeply cynical views of it, and that tension defines the album’s emotional landscape. These are songs born from phone addiction, stifled connection, and the peculiar anxieties of contemporary life, yet they’re animated by an undeniable warmth. The writing process – solitary morning sessions at piano and guitar spanning from August 2023 – gave way to collaborative recording sessions at Dave Ormsby’s Wirral studio that Witherspoon describes as “magical” and “full of laughs.”
That shift from isolation to collaboration isn’t just a biographical detail – it’s audible in the music itself. After two decades of providing exact written parts, Witherspoon learned to step back and let his musicians breathe. The result, particularly on tracks like ‘All My Venom’ and ‘My Baby’ which were recorded almost entirely live, captures something electric and immediate. ‘All my Venom’ explores relationships teetering between devotion and destruction, its central hook – “I love you, but I could give you all my venom” – interrogating love’s proximity to hate with raw energy that serves the emotional turbulence perfectly.
‘You’re Alright’ showcases Witherspoon’s gift for finding profundity in simplicity. Beat-driven verses about daily anxieties give way to swirling bass and bright acoustic guitar, while that deceptively straightforward repeated reassurance becomes genuinely moving. “Don’t get bitter. Don’t give up. Don’t be alone, you’re loved,” he explains of its core message – a sentiment that could feel trite but instead lands as a lifeline.
The piano-driven ‘End of the Line Again’ arrives as the album’s quietly devastating centrepiece, examining the peculiar anxiety of being sought for wisdom while drowning in social media’s contradictory noise. It builds to a shimmering crescendo that mirrors its protagonist’s internal conflict, capturing the gap between public expectation and private confusion with remarkable clarity.
Closer ‘My Baby’ encapsulates everything Witherspoon has learned about his craft. Born from writer’s block – melody arriving before lyrics, unusually – it transforms from delicate intimacy to anthem, even containing a knowing meta-textual moment about its own creative struggles. Witherspoon’s vocals channel a sultry sophistication that bridges classic influences (Dylan, Cohen, The Beatles) with contemporary indie sensibilities.
Mixed at Sloe Flower Studios and mastered at Abbey Road, the production balances intimacy with ambition across its eleven tracks. Drawing from Merseyside’s rich musical legacy while addressing distinctly modern anxieties, Witherspoon has created music that acknowledges our fractured moment while insisting on connection’s possibility. “We love and we are loved and somehow that always makes it worth the fight,” he offers, and the album earns that sentiment through honest examination of what makes connection difficult in the first place.
One of Them is a thoughtful, mature work from an artist coming into his own – proof that the best music can create the very connection it mourns losing.
Find out more about John Witherspoon on his official website, Facebook, Instagram and Spotify.
