“Hear the sweat dripping from his brow as his voice shakes, quivers and cracks as if these Southwester ramblers are the most important thing in the world.” - LA Times
“...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 on “Sadness”
“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
“ Extended Play 001 offers a first full glimpse of his restless and idiosyncratic artistic impulses, with tracks diverting towards minimalist art pop, funky indie rock, and off-kilter balladry.” - Under the Radar
“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 EXTENDED PLAY 001: HERE
Los Angeles based artist, Isaac Watters, has released his new EP, Extended Play 001, his first release on the LA based label hi-res records. A four song EP featuring Watters’ singular blend of ethereal indie rock and post-punk, expansive storytelling narratives, and sun-baked shimmering sonics, and more. Extended Play 001 features his previously released singles including “Listen to the Wind,” “Sadness,” “Child in the Rain,” as well as the previously unheard “Sliding.”
Much of Watters’ work considers his place in the world, and the way in which an ever-evolving relationship between man and the wild can shape one’s innermost feelings, and vice versa. His music examines the wilderness not just as a setting, but as living, breathing force, whose presence and influence is felt even before it is consciously considered. “The mountains, the ocean, the slow disintegration of the world we have known, and the rise and fall of civilization,” says Watters when speaking on the meaning behind Extended Play 001.
“The flailing power grid, the eroding canyons, the roads sliding down the edge of the coast into the sea.” For Watters, the wilderness envelopes nature and humanity, and weaves a thread between these forces that can never be unwound, for better and for worse. The wilderness does not end at the edges of nature, it reverberates across all corners of the Earth, and within its inhabitants.
“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.”
“Sliding” finds Watters embodying his surroundings, and using erosion as a metaphor to deal with the nostalgia of a carefree childhood. “When I was young I was in love with everyone I saw / I was a green hill in the sun I was in love with everyone / Now every evening the ashes fall / It’s like I’m living on the foothills of a volcano.”
The way Isaac encapsulates the zero-sum balance of man’s impact on nature is staggeringly beautiful and equally tragic. Musically, he finds a balance in the sonic spectrum he glides across. A wonderful bass groove carves agony into the Earth, while floating keys and crisp guitars soar like an echo in the wind. “And when a piece of me crumbles in the middle of the night / I slide into town, disrupt a life,” sings Watters. “I take whole families with me, whole houses get torn / They are absorbed by my heartache, they join the storm.”
“A smooth green hill in the sun meets fire and rain and over time is eroded into canyons, and all the softness it once had is washed into the river,” says Watters. “A man reflects on the erosion of his life as he walks along the storm filled river.”
“Sliding” expands on the sonic universe Watters lays down on his previous singles “Child in the Rain,” “Sadness” and “Listen to the Wind.” Each filters through Watters’ past, his childhood, his experiences living in Los Angeles, Tucson, and Mexico City, and the world around. From nuclear fallout, to the widening rivers, to the borders that divide humanity, Watters’ carves nuanced stories and images into his music.
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.”
Photo by Peter Brownlee
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