There is a beauty in the broken and John Isaac Watters fragile and vulnerable delivery is for that reason beautiful, unconventionally so but compelling none the less. He explores alt-country, dusty folk, carnival sideshow crooning, David Lynch soundtracks, Waitsian unconformity and much more besides.
Past Hope Now is timeless in that it can’t be pinned down to any era, it is evocative and nostalgic without tugging unnecessarily at too many heartstrings, it is fresh without trying to be fashionable and it is effortlessly experimental without seeming to try too hard to be clever, though a wonderfully clever musical creation it certainly is. But more than that, the fact that the music comes attached to an expansive and beautifully realised music video cum short film which explores the physical, mental and natural struggles of a couple with their desert surroundings only proves how brilliant music is at carrying an important message when in the right hands.
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