Experimental pop duo Water From Your Eyes have released “Playing Classics”, the second single from their upcoming album It’s a Beautiful Place, due August 22 via Matador Records.
The Creation of “Playing Classics”
The nearly six-minute track follows June’s “Life Signs” and finds the Brooklyn-based group comprised of Nate Amos and Rachel Brown leaning into a dancefloor-driven sound.
Built on a four-on-the-floor rhythm and warped piano lines, the track moves away from the experimental jagged rock of their previous single in favor of a tilted club-inspired atmosphere.
The accompanying video directed by James Dayton, features a stuffed teddy bear passed from child to pet to band mascot.
“Playing Classics” was originally a 12-minute instrumental reworked into a disco-inspired track at Brown’s request. “It was my favorite instrumental Nate sent, so it was my favorite to work on lyrically”.
Brown said in a statement. “I was thinking about dancing in a club even while the world collapses outside. It was written during Brat Summer, so Charli definitely had an influence.”
Amos, who also records solo as This Is Lorelei, added that the song began as an abandoned guitar idea that he restructured to meet Brown’s call for a dance-focused track.
Recording of It’s a Beautiful Place
The duo’s forthcoming album It’s a Beautiful Place was recorded in the summer of 2024 in Amos’s bedroom. Unlike previous projects, much of the material was developed with a full live band in mind. This reflecting the group’s experience performing in larger venues, including a stadium show in Mexico City while opening for Interpol.
Water From Your Eyes are one of the best groups around at the moment in our eyes. They seem to be constantly be pushing boundaries with a barrage of genre blending releases from pop, indie, experimental, electronic and rock sounding tracks.
Think about it, from their wonky Adele cover that arguably tops the original to the noisy masterpiece of the Everyone’s Crushed album.
Solo Releases from Water From Your Eyes
It’s a Beautiful Place follows 2023’s Everyone’s Crushed and a 2024 EP of covers. Outside the band, Brown released two EPs as Thanks for Coming. There are some really great music videos to these solo releases. The overall project seems to be more personal and plugs into these great simple anxious and retrospective writing.
We haven’t had that much time to dig through the releases in full, but we will for sure do a future write-up on the material.
Amos also shared a solo album titled Box for Buddy, Box for Star. The new album spans 10 tracks and draws lyrical inspiration from Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Dispossessed and Marcello Tarì’s There Is No Unhappy Revolution, which Brown said traveled with them across continents during the writing process.
Album Tracklist – It’s a Beautiful Place
- One Small Step
- Life Signs
- Nights in Armor
- Born 2
- You Don’t Believe in God?
- Spaceship
- Playing Classics
- It’s a Beautiful Place
- Blood on the Dollar
- For Mankind
Water From Your Eyes Tour Dates
Water From Your Eyes will support the album with a fall headline tour, beginning in the U.S. on September 22 in Philadelphia and continuing through North America before heading to Europe in mid-November.
Highlights include October 10 at New York’s Bowery Ballroom, November 13 at London’s Village Underground, and a December 7 finale at Musicbox in Lisbon. The tour features support from Her New Knife, Winter, and Dutch Interior on select dates.
Water From Your Eyes return to Brussels on the 20th of November at Botanique.
For more tour dates, album preorders, and merch visit waterfromyoureyes.com.
Listen to “Playing Classics” and watch the video on Bandcamp.
Follow the band on Instagram for updates.
For more new music, check out halftone magazine’s latest featured tracks.