Watter to inspire and amaze at Roadburn 2018
Watter are the exception to the rule that good things don’t last. When Zak Riles of Grails, Britt Walford of Slint and multi-instrumentist Tyler Trotter got together a few years ago to make a record called This World, a remarkable piece of unclassifiable, improvisational and experimental brilliance, we all kind of assumed it was a one-off, one of those brighter-than-the-sun supergroups that are doomed to remain an unforgettable and unrepeatable blip on our music radar because surely these guys have a zillion other things going on, right? Well, for once, the universe cooperated, and Watter kept going, touring the US with Roadburn habitués Om, and eventually picking up their delirious writing creativity where This World left off.
Three years later, the result of many a long nights of letting the muse take over is History Of The Future, a record released a couple of months ago that we are still delightfully exploring, letting it wash over us as a perfect continuation of This World. Post rock, jazz and electronica are woven together with a Southern twang and an occasional trip to the Middle East, and the different moods ebb and flow into each other with incredible simplicity, as if this music has always existed in this natural form. Such is the ease with which it floats by, despite the inherent weight and groove of some passages, almost like a soundtrack to a film noir that never existed, that you can quickly lose track of time within the maze erected by these ten songs.
Riles and Trotter became the core duo of Watter, with the later addition of Dominic Cipolla (from Phantom Family Halo) but the feeling is still similar to the previous incarnation of the band. Their collaboratory nature is still, and even more than before, pretty much their raison d’être. Rachel Grimes from Rachel‘s, Bundy K. Brown from Tortoise and Todd Cook from Shipping News and The For Carnation all contributed something to this new album. Despite their penchant for uniting with other musicians, Riles, Trotter and Cipolla will take to the stage as a three piece when Watter come to Roadburn next April; we’re sure that we’re in for a beautiful, melancholic, atmospheric and ultimately exhilarating ride.
Watter will inspire and amaze at Roadburn 2018, on Sunday, April 22 at the Green Room.
