Acclaimed Austin-based duo The Watters release their fourth full-length album, Duality, on 4/11/24, following their win of three John Lennon Songwriting Contest awards from their 2021 LP, Intuition. Produced by Austin wünderkid Daniel Creamer and recorded at The Finishing School, the new album is a culmination of The Watters’s almost two decades-long career together, with a title track thirteen years in the making.
The song “Duality” was conceived in 2009, the same year that Jenna and Daniel Watters began to write and perform professionally as a duo. Then, they were equally interested in folk and electronic music and in an effort to merge the two genres, Daniel created an electronic beat that was ultimately tucked away in his laptop as the duo decided to pivot to a more rootsy, folk-rock sound. But, that beat remained fresh to their ears for years, and the two kept trying to find a use for it through all their musical and personal evolutions, including three full-length albums, living in four different cities, and getting married and having a son.
While writing for their 2021 album Intuition, Jenna had a stream of consciousness experience while driving home and recorded her singing some words and melody on her phone over the beat. Flash forward to early 2023, when The Watters were preparing to record once again and gave producer Daniel Creamer a grouping of the music they’d been working on. Despite having no vocals on it, Creamer loved the “Duality” beat and wanted to pursue it, so the Watters finished the lyrics Jenna had envisioned with help from Creamer on the arrangement.
As the first song recorded, “Duality” set the tone for the rest of the album in terms of dynamics, production, and vibe. Representing the polarity between opposites and the human experience of swinging between them, trying to find a middle way and the strength that can be found in connecting the two, the song reflecting all the challenges, learning, and growth both writers had to go through in order to finish it, with the full album standing as a triumph of The Watters’s evolution as people and musicians.
The decision to record the album at The Finishing School seems somewhat fated, too. While Daniel had produced albums for others there in the past, The Watters had never recorded there. The studio had recently been renovated with every room designed in 3x6x9 golden ratios, and with one of the songs from Duality titled “Golden Ratio,” Daniel and Jenna felt a strong call to record the album there.
Duality is inspired by 70’s AM radio and 90’s R&B, and is an artistic expression of the current Austin music scene, backed by some of the finest musicians in town with Austin legend Jim Vollentine serving as chief engineer. Instead of following suit and releasing low budget singles to keep up with modern music consumption, The Watters are doing the opposite–creating a timeless, traditional album at the highest quality possible.