ALBUM NEWS: Richard Walters - 'Murmurate'

I'm dreadful at posting at the moment - so many things are pulling against me, taking up my time. The blog is kind of the easiest thing to step away from a little so that I don't completely burn out... but I'm here, writing late at night (obviously) about Oxford pal Richard Walters, who has a new solo record on the way. While he's certainly been busy in the interim (a new album with his project LYR came out in the past few weeks which I'm very keen to listen to when I get a moment) Murmurate marks Richard's first solo album since 2020. Born out of the pandemic but not particularly inspired by it, the tracks on the album explore our shared feelings of having changed through isolation. Of realising that you wanted different things and experiences once the world started to open back up.

Richard explains "when the world started to wake up again post lockdown I sprinted towards the door; I bolted, with unbelievable enthusiasm and joy, and I fell. I wiped out a fair few times in my desire to get back into a routine, to return to normality. I eventually found myself moving back from the bustle and noise, a combination of anxiety and a previously unearthed desire for more and more calm... For me this is not a lockdown record. It was largely written in 2022, post weirdness, but many of the songs do tap into that sense of post-lockdown-anxiety (PLA!?) and the mixed up, confused feeling of needing to be elsewhere but feeling the tug of home.

When it comes to music, throughout lockdown I was desperate to be in the room with other people making things again. In my opinion, Zoom just doesn’t cut it when it comes to finding common musical ground and building things up. That’s where the title ‘Murmurate’ comes from - I just wanted to feel that unison again, to move in time with other songwriters and musicians, to flock and gather and soar a little bit, even if the distance from my home life made me feel torn from time to time.”

Richard Walters · After Midnight

The album is previewed with first track After Midnight, about which Richard shares: "my attempt at being Springsteen! The older I get, the more home-based I become. It's a feeling I've noticed other friends my age expressing. So it's a middle aged anthem about not wanting to be out on the town post-midnight, about the beauty of the quiet life and the taxi home." 

Relatable.

Pre-save Murmurate here, due for release 17th November.

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