Isaac Watters - Extended Play 001 EP (2023) Hi-Res

LA-based indie singer/songwriter Isaac Watters is set to share his debut EP, Extended Play 001. The record represents the first half of Watters’ forthcoming debut, with the second still to come with a future EP. After years of Watters quietly creating in both visual and musical mediums, Extended Play 001offers 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.

Today, Isaac Watters is sharing an early listen to the record ahead of the EP’s full release, premiering with Under the Radar.

The EP opens with lead single “Listen To The Wind,” introducing Watters’ singular style amidst spacey production, watery synth textures, and a nervy rapid-fire vocal delivery. From there, Watters shares a lovely synth-tinged art pop ballad with “Sadness,” a stark and magnetic centerpiece that carries effortlessly into the gentle minimalist beauty of “Child In The Rain.” Finally, the EP closes off with “Sliding,” a slinking and smoky effort carried by bass-driven grooves and Watters’ decadent vocal melodies.

Watters explains of the EP, “This record 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. The mountains, the ocean, the slow disintegration of the world we have known, and the rise and fall of civilization. Piling up nuclear weapons, while we dig up the head of hercules from the depths of the sea. It asks over and over again, what if things were different, what if different decisions had been made, what if technology had not advanced in this direction. It questions the assumed path, and celebrates it, while at the same time mourning the loss of all other possibilities.”