The “Mickey Mantle” video has been featured all over the place including Stereogum.

WATERS launches a tour with Nada Surf next week – returning to many of the cities they just hit with Delta Spirit earlier this year.

UPCOMING WATERS TOUR DATES WITH NADA SURF:
06/19 – Lancaster, PA @ Chameleon Club *
06/20 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Club AE *
06/21 – Cleveland, OH @ Beachland Ballroom & Tavern *
06/22 – Ann Arbor, MI @ Blind Pig *
06/23 – Indianapolis, IN @ Deluxe *
06/24 – Louisville, KY @ Headliners *
06/25 – St. Louis, MO @ Old Rock House *
06/27 – Little Rock, AR @ Juanitas *
06/28 – Dallas, TX @ Granada Theater *
06/29 – Austin, TX @ La Zona Rose *
06/30 – Houston, TX @ Fitzgerald’s – Upstairs *
07/02 – Birmingham, AL @ Bottletree *
07/03 – Atlanta, GA @ The Loft *
07/05 – Baltimore, MD @ Rams Head Live *
07/18 – San Francisco, CA @ Brick and Mortar (headlining)

WATERS will be headed back out on the road with Nada Surf in June. They supported Nada Surf in Europe earlier this year and were outselling them 2-1 in terms of CDs – selling 80-90 CDs each night. These new shows with Nada Surf will get the band back in many of the markets they hit last month with Delta Spirit.

Take a listen to a recent WFUV “Alternate Side” session here.

WATERS TOUR WITH DELTA SPIRIT
04.30.12/Urban Lounge/Salt Lake City, UT
05.01.12/Fox Theatre/Boulder, CO
05.02.12/The Neurolux/Boise, ID
05.04.12/Neumo’s/Seattle, WA
05.05.12/Wonder Ballroom/Portland, OR
05.06.12/Electric Owl/Vancouver, BC
05.08.12/Ace of Spades/Sacramento, CA
05.10.12/Fillmore/San Francisco, CA
05.11.12/Music Box at Fonda/Hollywood, CA
05.12.12/The Belly Up/Solano Beach, CA
05.13.12/The Belly Up/Solano Beach, CA

WATERS TOUR WITH NADA SURF
06.19.12/Chameleon Club/Lancaster, PA
06.20.12/Stage AE/Pittsburgh, PA
06.21.12/Beachland Ballroom&Tavern/Cleveland, OH
06.22.12/Blind Pig/Ann Arbor, MI
06.23.12/Old National Center/Indianapolis, IN
06.24.12/Headliners Music Hall/Louisville, KT
06.25.12/Old Rock House/St. Louis, MO
06.27.12/Juanita’s/Little Rock, AK
06.28.12/Granada Theatre/Dallas TX
06.29.12/La Zona Rosa/Austin, TX
06.30.12/Fitzgerald’s/Houston, TX
07.02.12/Bottletree/Birmingham, AL
07.03.12/The Loft/Atlanta, GA
07.05.12/Rams Head Live/Baltimore, Maryland

Last month following a European tour supporting Wye Oak, WATERS played their first US shows at Brooklyn’s Northside Festival in addition to a headlining show at the Mercury Lounge.  The young band’s live show made an impression, with Brooklyn Vegan writing of their set supporting Deervana at Brooklyn Bowl: “If the recordings sound as good as the songs did at Brooklyn Bowl, then Out In The Light is definitely an album to look out for.”  WATERS also premiered the first MP3 off Out In The Light, “For The One,” in late May on Stereogum and the song is available as a free download here.  An album teaser video set to the track can also be seen here.

In the spring of last year, creative and personal differences led to the collapse of Port O’Brien and Pierszalowski moved to Oslo, Norway, seeking solace and space. After some time, he began writing again and to fuel his inspiration further, spent most of the year traveling: to Alaska, where he’d spent summers as a teenager fishing salmon with his father; to California, where he’d grown up in a seaside town off Highway 1; and eventually to New York, where in Brooklyn he endured relentless blizzards.  The new songs Pierszalowski wrote were intensively thought-out and pieced together over the year, a new contrast to the frequently loose, punchy anthems of his previous band. Wanting a bigger sound for his new project (which by now he’d dubbed WATERS) than he could create on his own, he headed back to Oslo – where his new life had first begun to take shape – and put together a band. They practiced every day for two months before heading to Dallas, TX, to record with producer John Congleton (St. Vincent, Explosions In The Sky, The Walkmen) and finished Out In The Light over a mere 10 day recording session.

Out In The Light has a louder, fuller, and more aggressive and raw sound that’s unlike anything Pierszalowski has written before.  Mixing fuzzy, pealing guitars and crashing drums with dynamic, indelible melodies, the album ranges from barreling, grunge-sheathed pop (“For The One”, “Back To You”), to easy, haunting tracks that soar (“O Holy Break Of Day”, “Out In The Light”); from rolling, catchy anthems (“Abridge My Love”, “Take Me Out To The Coast”), to a quieter and ruminative, aching beauty (“Ones You Had Before”, “Mickey Mantle”). Throughout, Pierszalowski’s sanded, reedy tenor sings about starting over, jealousy, and yearning for an easy, steady life, the intimacy and emotional intensity underlined by Congleton’s stark production.

WATERS tour dates:

AUG. 10       LOS ANGELES, CA            THE TROUBADOUR*

AUG. 11       DAVIS, CA                            SOPHIA’S THAI KITCHEN*

AUG. 18       PORTLAND, OR                BRANX#

AUG. 19       VANCOUVER, BC              BILLMORE CABARET#

AUG. 20       SEATTLE, WA                    CHOP SUEY#

AUG. 22       SAN FRANCISCO, CA      THE INDEPENDENT#

AUG. 24       SALT LAKE CITY, UT       KILBY COURT#

AUG. 25       DENVER, CO                      HI DIVE#

AUG. 27       LAWRENCE, KS                THE BOTTLENECK#

AUG. 28       NORMAN, OK                   OPOLIS#

AUG. 29       DENTON, TX                     HAILEY’S#

AUG. 30       AUSTIN, TX                       THE MOHAWK#

SEPT. 1        PHOENIX, AZ                    RHYTHM ROOM#

SEPT. 2        SAN DIEGO, CA                BAR PINK#

* supporting Vetiver

# supporting Mister Heavenly

Inspiration arrived and as he wrote, Van was compelled to fuel the process further by changing his environment once more.  He spent most of the next year traveling: to Alaska, where he’d spent summers working on his father’s commercial salmon fishing boat; to California, where he’d grown up in a seaside town off Highway 1; and eventually to New York, where in Brooklyn he endured relentless blizzards and a cold nearly reminiscent of Oslo.

Van gave his new project a name: WATERS. These new songs he wrote veered away from the frequently loose, punchy anthems of Port O’Brien, and as he intensively pieced each one together, he sought a bigger sound – something louder than he could play on his own.  So Van returned to Oslo, where his new journey had begun.  He put together a band of fine Norwegian gentlemen and spent every day of the next two months rehearsing in a small practice space outside of the city.

This band went with Van to Dallas, Texas, to record with producer John Congleton. Over a brief 10-day recording session in April, Congleton – who has worked on some of Van’s favorite albums (by artists including St. Vincent, Bill Callahan, and yes, R. Kelly) – kept the production stark, maintaining the songs’ intimacy and emotional intensity. Out In The Light has a louder, fuller, more aggressive and raw sound than any of Van’s earlier works. It’s a mix of fuzzy, pealing guitars and crashing drums, and easy, alternately soaring and languid, indelible melodies.

According to Van, “The record is about waking up. It is about getting out of a situation that seems endless, and realizing you’re not too old to make dramatic and sudden changes in your life. It is about starting over.”