SPILL ALBUM PREMIERE: AS WATERS – AS WATERS

As Waters – As Waters

A Spill Exclusive Album Premiere

As Waters is the artist name and self-titled modern folk/orchestral pop debut album by New York City-born, Toronto-based guitarist, singer, songwriter also known as Tristan Avakian.

As Waters is a classic heartbreak album, much like ‘Blood On The Tracks’ (Bob Dylan), ‘Back To Black’ (Amy Winehouse), ‘Vulnicura’ (Bjork) and ‘Sea Change’ (Beck). Written primarily on a battered acoustic while on the road for various musical theater productions (spring 2013 to fall 2014), three songs were ultimately recorded in Nashville with Grammy-winning musician, producer Gary Gold (Smokey Robinson, Joss Stone, Stevie Wonder) and the rest were captured in Los Angeles with composer, pianist, arranger and international recording artist/producer Steve Weisberg (Hal Willner, Loudon Wainwright III, Nick Cave).

As Waters evokes an era when things were made by hand to be lasting and beautiful. So, it needed real players, and it got them: Viktor Krauss (upright bass, Lyle Lovett), Petri Korpela (percussion, Josh Groban), Mike Waldron (guitar, Martina McBride) and David Davidson (strings, renowned Nashville-based session violinist, composer, orchestral concertmaster).

In spite of the fact that Avakian (who studied at Berklee College and moved to Toronto in 2006 when he landed lead guitarist of ‘We Will Rock You’) is more widely known as a musical theater/rock guitarist (including Rock of Ages, Hedwig, Book of Mormon and most recently, the award-winning Kinky Boots; 2015/2016 Mirvish production), As Waters assimilates a variety of styles, all of which pre-date Woodstock – an American Civil War ballad, an Elizabethan lay, Revolver-era Beatles, lush orchestral pop, film noir, Tropicalia – but with a post-punk sensibility reminiscent of songwriters including Josh Homme, Ben Gibbard and Billie Joe Armstrong.

Artist Quote

As Waters states, “For this album I wanted to focus on lyrics and melody. Soft is seductive; come closer. I also wanted to explore traditional arranging from the golden era of orchestral pop: Burt Bacharach, George Martin, Nelson Riddle. Now, I can’t wait to share it with everyone! And I am proud to present the entire album live, with a full ensemble, at the official CD release concert!”

As Waters
As Waters
(Independent)
Release Date: May 18, 2016

As Waters Track Listing

1. As Waters Engulf Us We Reach For A Star
2. Dame Atlantis
3. Hollywood Ending
4. Amnesia
5. Just Noise
6. Minneapolis
7. An Open Sky
8. Priceless
9. Arlington

Artist Links