Los Angeles artist Isaac Watters has released his latest single “Sadness.“ “Sadness” is the second single from his forthcoming EP Extended Play 001, out January 17th via Los Angeles-based hi-res records.

Watters bottles 21st-century anxiety on a uniquely individual and global scale on “Sadness.” Bridging a number of genres and influences including uncanny post-punk to sun-bleached indie rock, mingled with spoken-word, Watters firmly plants himself in the lineage of other storied singer-songwriters such as Nick Cave, Leonard Cohen, Dan Bejar, and Mark Kozalek. who wrestled with the darkness of their time. Overtop a sleek, acid-washed synth bass, a steady beat, and carefully crafted piano and guitar lines that weave in and out of each other, Watters conjures cinematic scenery of the shadows plotting around the corner, and the forces that threaten to swallow up the goodness around him.”Everywhere I go I leave a little sadness / Everywhere I go I leave a little sorrow / No one seems to know, no one seems to notice,” wails Watters to an audience just out of camera, while a steady bass groove keeps his feet firmly planted in frame. In all, Watters takes a widescreen approach to his approach and songwriting.

“On an individual level “Sadness” is about someone wondering what else their life could have been if they had chosen differently, or given more, or tried harder, or been luckier,” says Watters. “That nagging incessant autobiography, the constant comparison to others, living in the desert of dread for the future. They are not able to be happy with everything that they have right now in front of them – the whirlwind of anxiety that comes from living in the future, and regretting the past.”

Though “Sadness” was not written while thinking of ecological disaster or nuclear fallout, somehow the imagery just works perfectly with the lyrics, and allows us to ask the question, what if we hadn’t done that? The music video for “Sadness” is set to footage of an atomic blast test performed by the US Military in 1959. There’s an eerie fiber that connects the mirco-forces at play with the macro-tragedy that follows, while capturing the spiraling chaos that threatens those who are just trying to keep their head above the rising tide. Cause can be tragically simple, but the results of our own individual and collective actions can spiral into calamitous consequences, only understood in the privilege of foresight, or through surveying the wreckage afterwards. “I have imagined stepping back in time, before the first lie, before the crime, before we traded in the mountains for the tower,” sings Watters, setting the scene for the tragedy to come.

“On a more global scale, the song is about the destruction of the natural world, for the sake of some idea of progress.” Watters muses on the impact that mankind’s innovations have on the natural world, humanity’s shortsighted priorities in the name of convenience, and ultimately, the effect of these forces on the individual and the collective whole.

Produced with Matt Linesch of hi-res records, “Sadness” and Extended Play 001 were born out of the free-flowing writing sessions between them, about life and songwriting, the forces at play, and their relationships. Recorded throughout the pandemic at Infinitespin Studio, Extended Play 001 traverses climate catastrophe, anxiety, regret, forgiveness, nuclear proliferation, hope, the ending of things, as well as new beginnings. In all, a pervasive sense of confusion and questioning shines through. Extended Play 001 was mixed and mastered all analog (AAA), and recorded on a Studer A827 24-track Tape Machine on 2″ Recording The Masters 900 tape. Mixed through a 1972 API console, a wide variety of outboard gear, and reverb units, and mixed down to an ATR 102 2 track tape machine on 1/4″ Recording The Masters 900 Tape.

Residing on the Eastside of Los Angeles and deeply embedded in a community of like-minded musicians and artists, Isaac Watters has forever been a creator, using his mind to bring his ideas to life, via visual or musical mediums. Connecting with a live audience has always been where Watters’ heart beats the loudest, but as with most of the world, the pandemic threw Watters’ creative plans into disarray. Having weathered the storm of isolation and chaos of the unknown, the soft-spoken innovator has arrived at a sense of calm and focus, making his most thrilling music to date. 

Photo Courtesy: Isabella Behravan