Isaac Watters Delivers 'New Space & Time'
(Sideways) Isaac Watters has released his debut full-length album New Space & Time out today on Los Angeles label hi-res records. The album is a culmination of the work Watters has been releasing over the past two years. The album includes the material from the 2023 releases Extended Play 001 and Extended Play 002. In addition to the EP's the album includes the tracks "Thirsty," and "Tired" released earlier this year with the addition of two previously unreleased songs, the title track "New Space & Time," and a cover of Blaze Foley's "Picture Cards."
As with all the songs that make up New Space & Time, it considers Watters' and humanity's place on Earth, how the natural world shapes its inhabitants, and vice versa. Watters channels these internal musings and observations while taking the listener on a journey across indie-rock, post-punk, art rock, dream pop, and indie folk, tapping into a celebrated sonic lineage of trailblazing songwriters who came before him, including Leonard Cohen, Nick Cave, Dan Bejar, and more.
"This Record is about living in Los Angeles," says Watters, "The dirt and grime and fire and smoke and the perfect light in all of it. After living here for 20 years, I finally felt like I could make a record of 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."
Working with producer Matt Linesch and hi-res records on the songs that make up this stunning album, Watters found recording in analog to be a creatively fruitful 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 was flawless. They would do one take, and that would be the song."
A multidisciplinary artist and accomplished set designer, Watters always considers 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 from the USC music school. To date, he has released four albums as John Isaac Watters: Parachute Tramps, CASAS, Campanas, and Past Hope Now. Also, in 2019, he released an EP called Rainstorm Brother, a new project with his longtime collaborator Tyler Chester. "Tired" was also co-written with Tyler.
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 Fly Me to the Moon, Atlas, Ahsoka, The OA, Westworld, For All Mankind, and Don't Worry Darling (full IMDb credits HERE), and has received several nominations for Excellence in Production Design by the Art Directors Guild. As a partner of the LAMB design collective, Watters and the LAMB team have been commissioned for several installations at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, including the 2022 Spring Exhibit, IN AMERICA: AN ANTHOLOGY OF FASHION, the 2021 fall exhibition IN AMERICA: A LEXICON OF FASHION, and more.
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