Wyatt Flores - Welcome To The Plains

Since Wyatt Flores’ 2021 debut song, ‘Travelin’ Kid,’ there’s been convincing bites of the 23-year-old Oklahoma native’s musical capabilities, the quality of his visceral, vulnerable storytelling held aloft as the jewel in the crown of his musical promise. On his debut album, Welcome To The Plains, he elevates his storytelling sensibilities into a full-blooded product of expansive breadth that shows us what he can do sonically, lyrically and vocally.

Flores has described the album as a “variety pack.” It’s an apt moniker for the blend of country, folk, southern rock, indie and pop influences which, in lesser hands, could have been a hodge podge of bluntly mixed abstraction. Yet, in Flores’, it’s something tangible, cohesive and artfully blended. Death, small town life, heartbreak – thematically, it’s familiar, but Flores has a knack of taking broad themes and skillfully distilling them into soundbites that are simultaneously peculiar, personal and relatable. Take ‘When I Die,’ a superb lyrical feast offering up images of Flores spilling out of his coffin and wishing to be put back in on his side as that’s how he likes to sleep, or ambitions to listen to mourners from his grave and haunt any that he hears “talking shit.”

Throughout his short but mighty career, he’s been candid about his mental health struggles, cancelling his tour in 2024 to enter a treatment facility. At the time, he spoke about feelings of numbness, though it’s a testament to his skill as a storyteller that he turns this feeling of nothing into a statement of compelling existentialism. This is poignantly reflected in lines like “the end of the world is getting near and I still feel the same” on the fiddle-soaked red dirt title track, or “I don’t feel nothing inside as I look into her eyes or maybe I’m just jealous she feels enough to cry” on mournful guitar waltz ‘Habits.’

His experiences growing up in the small town of Stillwater, Oklahoma are also ripe for melancholy. “There’ll still be kids on the strip acting like local bars don’t exist,” he sings presciently on the grungy, indie pop number ‘Stillwater,’ which brings with it a thrumming sense of foreboding as it juxtaposes the coming-of-age excitement of leaving your hometown with its inability to change.

Yet despite the ennui, at its heart, it’s not a moping album. ‘Don’t Wanna Say Goodnight’ builds to an effortless guitar jam, emulating that slick, southern rock produced by Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit. The Tyler Childers-esque catch in his voice flits between a trill, a yelp and a snarl; smooth and charming on classic country ballad ‘Only Thing Missing Is You,’ rougher on the warning tale of self-appointed martyrdom gone awry, ‘Oh Susannah.’ The influence of Childers is strong on ‘Right Here With You,’ which is particularly reminiscent of Childers’ ‘All Your’n’ in its breezy, jangly feel and its simple ode to love.

Though Flores’ deftness flitting between sounds – his “variety pack” quality – is demonstrably impressive, listeners and the industry alike will eventually want him to settle on one. That may well follow his debut, but for now, he’s set himself up with an impressive menu to choose from.

8.5/10

Wyatt Flores’ 2024 project, Welcome To The Plains, is available everywhere now via Island Records.

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