“...unapologetically cerebral.” - Magnet Magazine
“...it’s hooked me, line and sinker. ‘Everywhere I go, I leave a little sadness,’ sung in the vein of Wolf Parade’s wobbly warbles? Take my money.” - Monster Children
“Known for cinematic, electro-baked…Watters draws lyrically vivid landscapes to accompany his soundscapes. Often he sketches forlorn places fraught with peril — territory that seems to occupy more acreage these days.” - Buzzbands LA
“The song is reminiscent of the post-rock psychedelic phase of the 80s, with a touch of folk and an impassioned message which almost becomes spoken word poetry.” - Folk n Rock on “Listen to the Wind”
LISTEN TO “CHILD IN THE RAIN”: HERE
Los Angeles artist Isaac Watters has released his latest single “Child In The Rain” today. The song is the third offering from his forthcoming EP, Extended Play 001, out January 17th via Los Angeles-based label hi-res records, and follows previous singles “Listen To The Wind” and “Sadness.”
“When I was a kid in the desert in Arizona, whenever it rained it would rain really hard, the wash would fill up and we'd run down in it and wade out in the water. It was such a rare occurrence to have a river running through our backyard that we really enjoyed it,” says Watters. Now living in LA, he still thinks a lot about water and the desert, and the way that we’ve drastically altered the landscapes, especially in the last 100 years.
“Try driving around your city and think about where the streams used to be, how wide the river would get when it would flood, before we encased it in concrete. We've made this desert into something entirely different, less wild, more controlled,” says Watters. “It feels like we've robbed the landscape of its child-likeness, and dressed it up in a suit to go work in a tall building.”
The start of the song references a thesis project Watters did while studying architecture at the University of Southern California. The thesis proposed an International Museum of Border Conflict at San Diego’s Friendship Park along the US/Mexico border. Friendship Park serves as a meeting point for visitors from both countries to meet, complete with a border fence that separates the park and runs through to the ocean; this irony is not lost on Watters.
“In the last 15 years since my project the US border patrol has replaced what was just a chain link fence that families could meet at and talk through, with two thirty-foot tall walls that are constantly patrolled, as if it is a war zone,” says Watters. “If you get a chance to visit, you can walk down the beach from San Diego, or up from Tijuana, and you'll see a wall rising up in front of you on the continuous coastline. It's the most unnatural thing. Whoever built that wall must have lost their childlike mind.”
LISTEN TO “LISTEN TO THE WIND: HERE
LISTEN TO “SADNESS”: HERE
“This EP is about living in Los Angeles. The dirt and grime and fire and smoke and the perfect light in all of it. After living here now for 20 years, I finally felt like I could make a record about it. It still has the deserts of Arizona and the cities and jungles of Mexico around the edges, but at its heart, it's about Los Angeles,” says Watters. “It's about sitting alone on a desert mesa, seeing a cloud of dust rise up in the distance, and hoping that someone is coming for you. The mesa is your life, and the puff of dust you can barely see is the news you’ve been waiting for. Maybe it's a tiny rain cloud full of your dreams.”
Watters found an incredible creative partner in hi-res records to help bring his vision to life. The label’s focus is on high-quality productions. For Watters’ album, the choice was made to record, mix and master all in analog. It’s an audiophile’s dream, and something that connected with Watters’ creativity.
“Building these songs with the limitation of having only 24 tracks on the tape machine was a challenge, but also a driving element in the creativity of the production,” says producer Matt Linesch. “Working solely on analog tape forces you to commit to your songwriting decisions, requires a high caliber of musicianship to execute the recordings, as well as requiring the skillset to see a production from beginning to end.”
EXTENDED PLAY 001 - OUT JANUARY 17TH
Photo by Peter Brownlee
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