Richard Walters will release a single, 'True Love Will Find You In The End', on 20 July through Kartel. The track, his plaintive cover of the classic Daniel Johnston song, will precede the release of Walters' debut album ‘The Animal’ on 21 September.
‘The Animal’ is produced by David Kosten (Bat For Lashes, Faultline) and Ant Whiting (MIA, Paloma Faith, Zero 7), and was written over a three year period of ecstatic highs and crushing lows for Walters. At the end of this period, he was galvanised to record the album only after he had fallen in love with an American girl and moved with her to Paris from his home town of Oxford.
His gentle falsetto, free from theatrics and histrionics, means that the subjects of his songs come as a surprise. Singing about having a seizure, or the anxiety you feel at the start of an affair, or about domestic abuse from the point of view of the abuser, Walters resolutely refuses to “rock out”: the mood is of quiet despair and unfulfilled desire, of anxiety and dismay, of melancholy and longing.
Twenty-six year old Walters has been performing solo for over a decade, as well as playing in a variety of bands and adding vocals to many prominent musical projects. Most of the album sees Richard playing all the instruments himself, including piano, guitar, bass and keyboards. The strings were provided by Izzi Dunn, who also plays cello for Kanye West.
While one of the album’s songs, ‘All At Sea’, was recently picked for the soundtrack of hit US TV show CSI:Miami, Walters has had a positive early reception in the UK as well, with The Guardian stating “Finally, a singer-songwriter that we actually enjoy” and Clash calling the album “dazzlingly beautiful”.
Live dates:
23 June LONDON The Enterprise
14 July BRIGHTON The Basement
15 July LONDON Slaughtered Lamb
16 July OXFORD Baby Simple
