Isaac Watters — Current Clients

Residing on the Eastside of Los Angles and deeply embedded in a community of like-minded musicians and artists, Isaac Watters has long been busy dreaming up new ideas. Sure, he’s forever been a creator — using his mind to bring his ideas to life, whether via the visual or musical mediums. But in recent times, the soft-spoken innovator’s output has blossomed in a new and exciting way. “This feels like the record I was always trying to make,” Watters says of his forthcoming debut release, set to be unveiled via hi-res records as a pair of EPs beginning this fall. Funky, minimal and brooding in the most inviting way possible, Watters’ music stops you in your tracks. Armed with a booming baritone that recalls one of his greatest influences, Tom Waits, the singer injects his music with a loose and enticing aura — it immediately draws you in with its moving melodies and sensual grooves.

As Watters admits, in today’s crowded musical landscape, it sometimes requires drawing outside the lines to grab a listener’s ear. “So yeah, it’s definitely kind of weird,” he says with a laugh of his forthcoming new single, “Listen to the Wind,” a stunning, spacey tale of exhilarating escape. “I’m alone in the parking lot burning my tires,” Watters sings with a thick reverb enveloping his already fluid vocals. The song, Watters explains, was born out of a free-flowing writing and recording session with his producer, Matt Linesch, that found them blasting Weezer songs on Linesch’s studio speakers and dovetailing into a conversation about “getting out of the city and trying to be alone and away from everybody.” Adds Watters, “It’ll grab people’s attention.”

Talking to Watters on a recent summer morning, there’s almost a sense of relief in the musician’s voice. Like so many of us, the pandemic threw his creative plans into disarray. But now, having weathered the storm and arrived on the other side with some of his most thrilling music yet, he’s feeling a sense of calm. “I’m ready to see what lies ahead,” says Watters, speaking not only to the impending release of a plethora of music but also to the potential to hit the road and play his music for audiences. “Recording is fun,” he explains, “but it's not really where my heart is. If it were up to me, I would love to just be playing a show every night. That's really what I enjoy the most about music — performing it.”

Lucky for Watters, he’s now amassed a collection of songs tailor-made for the live setting, what with their shifting dynamics paired with his enticing voice. From “Sadness,” which he describes as “maybe one of my favorites because I feel like it sums up the record in the least amount of words,” to “Coconut in the Street,” the first time he feels he’s truly put an “LA song” to wax, Watters’ new music transports you to a world where life might be messy but it’s never not entertaining.

“It changes day to day,” he says when describing which of his new songs most resonates with him. Watters stops to explain how, for example, “My Heart Is An Ocean” — arguably the album’s clever centerpiece with its sumptuous island grooves — is nearly a decade old but had never been properly recorded. Now, he says, those fans who had been clamoring for him to give the song a proper release will get their wish.

Lucky for Watters and his growing legion of listeners, the musician found a wonderful partner in hi-res records to help bring his creative vision to life. With a focus on putting out music recorded, mixed and mastered all in analog, the label is an audiophile’s dream. When Watters found out that the label’s clientele consisted of audio-heads, he couldn’t have been more psyched. “Oh yeah, it’s great if the album is going to people that really care about how it was made,” he explains. Furthermore, in today’s streaming age, where singles are plentiful and truly engaging with a full-length album is a rarity, Watters believes those that truly care about the process behind an album’s creation are more likely to give the entire thing a spin. “All I can hope for is that someone will sit down and listen to the entire record,” he says. “That’s the goal.”

As for what lies ahead, Watters is filled with a sense of nervous excitement, a feeling only a musician on the precipice of his big moment can truly understand. “This has been a long time coming and now it’s the time to see what this music does,” Watters says proudly. “I can’t wait.”