Charles Watson announces second solo album with new cut "Figure Skater"

After returning in November last year with "Afghan Hound", the former Slow Club member has unveiled new single "Figure Skater", both of which will feature on his upcoming record YES.

Watson says of the new release, ""Figure Skater" started as a bit of an experiment. I was trying to match the acoustic guitar sounds from Dolly Parton’s "Jolene" at half speed (if you haven’t heard it…it's on YouTube). Dolly’s voice is down an octave…it’s magical. I found myself just dropping in on it every now and again. When it actually came to writing a song it turned into something totally different but that was where the thing started. When we got to the studio the idea was to try and simplify the demo and make it as sparse as possible. We anchored the whole thing around drums, bass and Wurlitzer which ended up being the starting point for a lot of the record. I was lucky enough to have Rosa Slade, Rozi Plain, Katy Beth Young, Naomi Hammerton and Susie Merry down to sing with me. The lyrics have a kind of darkness to them and I wanted it to sound like one huge strange voice. We all had frozen margaritas and vibed the hell out."

YES will follow Watson's 2018 debut solo record Now That I'm A River.

"With the last record, I didn’t really know what I was doing," Watson explains. "I just wanted to make something that felt like me."

He adds, "I felt like I had been hiding for so long, behind reverb, behind certain effects and tricks, and that was a hang-up from when I was in Slow Club. And now, I’ve arrived at a place of not wanting to carry my insecurities on to a record. I want to project the purest form of what I want to say. I feel like I’ve come so far in the space of two albums and can already see I’m not the person I was when I was writing this album, just as I’m no longer the person I was when I made the first album. This record is the start of untangling all of those feelings and stepping forward."

Tracklist:

1. Figure Skater
2. All My Mountains
3. Reared In The West
4. I Was Sent Here To Love You
5. Afghan Hound
6. Spectator Sports
7. Beauty Contest
8. Going Places
9. It Must Be Night
10. People Run Towards People