SOPHOMORE EP PREMIERES WITH ATWOOD MAGAZINE
“Charming and churning, warm and wondrous, Watters’ Extended Play 002 is a contemplative collection of gentle giants: Intimate reflections that sound sweet and hit hard, demanding our undivided attention as the artist spills his soul.” - Atwood Magazine on Extended Play 002
“Watters is haunting and archival in the way he approaches songwriting, retracing memory with deep contemplation of the human experience. Sonically, Watters’ music has a lingering effect.” - Impose Magazine
“There are few more compelling narrators of the human condition right now than Watters, who turns his writerly eye toward the disparity in wealth in Los Angeles on the new single.” - Buzzbands LA on “Coconut In The Street”
“Watters has been dipping his toes in assorted genres over the years, but he seems to rest most comfortably along the mesmerizing continuum between minimalist folk and moody theatricality.” - Magnet Magazine
“Blending unique sounds with deep and sometimes haunting lyrics, Watters conjures up a new perspective for listeners and burgeoning artists.” - Los Angeleno
“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… the EP closes off with “Sliding,” a slinking and smoky effort carried by bass-driven grooves and Watters’ decadent vocal melodies.” - Under The Radar
“...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
“The result is a collection of songs (with more to come) that reflect different shadows of Watters’ LA life, but also process fears and anxieties about the natural world, climate change, and apocalypse that’s very much “in the air” for the artist.” Glide Magazine
EXTENDED PLAY 002: LISTEN
LOS ANGELES, CA - Today LA based multi-disciplinary artist and songwriter Isaac Watters has released Extended Play 002, his thoughtfully-crafted sophomore release for hi-res records. “Watters’ new EP is a fun fever dream that defies easy categorization; a record that comes to life with warmth and wonder, graceful melodies and glistening vocals full of turbulence and raw turmoil,” says Atwood Magazine in the official premiere of the four-song release. A journey across indie-rock, post-punk, art rock, dream pop, indie folk and more, the release marks a stunning achievement for Watters, whose singular voice and patient songwriting are on full display. Watters’ music considers his and humanity’s place on Earth, how the natural world shapes its inhabitants and vice versa, and the fibers that connect us all. Watters channels these internal musings and observations while tapping into a celebrated sonic lineage of trailblazing songwriters who came before him, including Leonard Cohen, Nick Cave, Dan Bejar, and more.
Closing song “Can You Hear Me Now” joins Watters’ previous singles in underscoring the thought he imbues in his songwriting and the recording process. Describing the song as either a conversation wrestling with a higher power, or a phone call with his brother, Isaac rounds out his second EP on “Can You Hear Me Now” to a stunningly poignant effect. “Can you hear me now? I was trying so hard,” sings Isaac, as if the clouds are parting. “Can you hear me now? I was trying to understand.” There’s an admirable stillness in the messages Watters presents in his songwriting and delivery that is on full display across the song and EP.
When asked about the environmental themes and imagery he touches on across the release, Issac finds hope in the scenes of disaster and ruin that are presented in his lyrics. “I think there's always this longing for a world where things are better and things aren't dying and everything is alive, and the ocean is cold, and the sun is shining,” says Isaac. “There’s this idea I sometimes think about, that longing for a place like that.”
“I feel like music is a way to process what we aren't actually able to think about,” says Watters when asked about what he hopes listeners take away from Extended Play 002. “I hope that it's music that is comforting to people in this era that we're living in. And that it could be something that would be helpful for people.”
“Can You Hear Me Now” rounds out the EP, and follows lead singles “All I Need,” “Coconut In The Street,” and “My Heart is an Ocean.” With praise from publications including Impose Magazine, Magnet Magazine, Buzz Bands LA, Under The Radar and more, the release hints at more music to come from Watters in the future.
Working with producer Matt Linesch and hi-res records, Watters found recording in analog to be a creatively fruitful approach. Eschewing the endless directions that digital recording can present, along with the headache that constant tinkering and overdubbing can inspire, recording to tape provided Watters and company a more direct road map to carrying these songs to completion, and overall simplified the process. Working within limits can inspire a more successful, and ultimately more human approach. “We did the record with four rolls of tape, each song lives on that length of tape. We couldn't go back and add stuff in. Everybody that we had playing on [Extended Play 002] was flawless. They would do one take, and that would be the song.”
A multi-disciplinary artist, Frank Gehry apprentice, and accomplished set designer (Westworld, For All Mankind, and many others), Watters’ is always considering the relationship between sight and sound, and how the two influence and affect his work.
Born in Mexico City, John Isaac Watters grew up in Oaxaca & later outside of Tucson, AZ. In 2002 He moved to Los Angeles to study architecture, going on to work for Frank Gehry while at the same time starting to write music and perform with friends in the USC music school. To date, he has released 4 albums as John Isaac Watters: Parachute Tramps, CASAS, Campanas, and Past Hope Now. Also in 2019 he released an EP as Rainstorm Brother - a new project with his long time collaborator Tyler Chester.
Besides touring nationally, from 2014-2020 he held multiple residencies in LA, the longest running was at the historic Hyperion Tavern in Silver Lake. At that residency, John attracted many notable guest performers including Jackson Browne, Madison Cunningham, Bedouine, Mark Eitzel (of American Music club), Dan Bern, Anna Nalick, Garrison Starr, Will Butler (of Arcade Fire) and many others.
Isaac is an artist's artist and in addition to music has a robust career as a visual artist. He started his career working with the legendary architect Frank Gehry and later designed multiple low-income housing projects in Los Angeles. His architecture work led to set design in 2015 with his first project Chappaquiddick. He has gone on to design sets for existential shows such as OA, Westworld and For All Mankind, which helped shape the worldview projected in the EP (full IMBD credits HERE). Most recently he designed the sets for the buzzed-about film Don't Worry Darling and is a member of LAMB design collective where he worked on the design for last year's Met Gala In America: A Lexicon of Fashion.
Photo by Stone Shannon