Water Street Digs Deep Into New Single, getting Signed, And More

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US based outfit Water Streets chat with us about their new single ‘Decaf Daydream’, getting signed to a label and more

Simple, sweet, and delightful are just three words to describe ‘Decaf Daydream’, the bands latest release. It’s from this song where we discovered the subtle yet cosy sounds of Water Street, a band based out of North Jersey, USA. It’s the first single released with the label Free Dive Collective and sets a real precedent for the quality that is to come from this fledgling band.

We wanted to get the lowdown on Water Street, what the new single means to them, and more.

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Kieran: Hey all, thank you for taking a moment to chat with us! How have you been? 

Dave: We’ve been great! Thanks for starting the conversation.

The past half a year has been really new and exciting for us! It feels like we’ve been playing, recording, and performing more all at once than we ever have before. But it’s been well worth it.

Kieran: So, how did you all meet and at what point did you decide to start making music together? 

Dave: So Water Street has been around since 2011, but our current lineup met a little over a year ago. Myself (Dave) and Connor (drums) met in high school and have been playing music together for about 10 years now. A few years ago, I saw a clip of my cousin Julia (vocals) singing a cover of “Let’s Hear It For The Boy,” and was floored. I immediately asked her to record harmonies for our last album, and she ended up joining the band in 2022. We met Brendon (bass), Eddie (lead electric), and Alex (keys/sax) through different social media platforms (Bandmix, Instagram) one by one at the start of last year when we were looking to bring in some new musicians, and it was almost unnatural how quickly we all got along together. We’ve said so many times to each other how weird it feels that we’ve only been playing together for a year.

Kieran: You recently signed to the indie label Free Dive Collective (huge congrats) I imagine you’re all stoked? 

Dave: Yes, thank you! Absolutely. I think I’m still kind of in this zombie state of disbelief, but also going through the motions of it? Like it’s definitely “upping the ante,” for sure in terms of the workload; writing, scheduling, marketing things in a way that’s different than before. Plus almost all of us still have full-time jobs. I never started playing music thinking we’d have an opportunity like this. But it’s a privilege to have the chance to work as hard as we’ve been working with a label who’s invested in us and looking to evolve our sound together.

Kieran: How will being signed to the label help you as artists? 

Dave: I think the main thing is that unlike an engineer or a producer for one specific project, a label is more engaged in making the music as good as it can be for everyone’s benefit. They’re just as committed as we are to getting the songs just right and releasing them in a way where they can be as successful as possible. We’re one of if not the first NJ band to be signed with the Philly-based collective, and I think we’re a little more mainstream pop than some of their other bands. So, we give Free Dive a new style in their portfolio, and they give us what I think are some of the best songs that we’ve made. Tyler Ripley (who owns and runs the label, and also engineers, mixes, and masters our stuff) has been a complete joy to work with. He’s laser focused yet so down to earth. He’ll say it like it is, but then really listen to what people have to say about the songs, offer solutions, and you can tell he’s all-in on the music. And that’s what you can’t pay for. You can always hire another engineer or another studio to record your music. You can’t pay for someone to be invested in your music, in your vision like you’ve been from the very beginning.

Kieran: You recently just released your new single ‘Decaf Daydream’, can you talk us through this track and what it means to you? 

Dave: Yeah! The whole song is supposed to exist within someone’s inner thoughts. Lyrically it was new for us to write something from the perspective of a person who’s longing for someone, yet also being the thing that’s driving them away, which is why they exist to them only in a daydream. Out of all of the songs I showed the band when we were choosing what to record, Decaf was the first one I was ready to scrap just because of how simple it is musically. But I’m really glad that Tyler and everyone else saw something in it that I hadn’t, and to be proven wrong. It’s taught me to trust more in other people’s ideas for our sound, and to not write something off just because I don’t see the potential in a short little iPhone recording.

Listen to ‘Decaf Daydream’ here:

Kieran: How did you go about writing and recording this release? 

Dave: This was the first song idea that we as a group came up with. Alex was really vocal about wanting a song in a different kind of feel, like a bossa-nova style. So we paired it with this really simple walking melody to emit this feeling of drifting off into a memory, and I started throwing out random words for what became the chorus. We were trying to piece together individual ideas that each of us had, but nothing really felt concrete. Eventually, I stumbled onto “decaf daydream.” As soon as I said it, Alex goes “yeah, that’s it,” and the room immediately fell dead silent for about 5 seconds, since I think we all realized in that moment what the song would be built around. That for the first time together, we had crossed that threshold from throwing paint on the wall to having a tangible idea.

Recording-wise, a LOT of layering. I’m pretty sure this song is the most tracks that we’ve ever had on a Water Street song (over 400). We recorded multiple acoustic tracks each with their own chord voicings so we could pan them in each ear and make the song feel bigger. There’s about 100 tracks just between harmonies, strings, and cello to really fill the space and help make the transitions between sections feel seamless. The arrangement was also pretty deceptively nuanced. We all went into it like “oh the chorus is four chords, this’ll be quick,” and we ended up spending hours and hours just making sure things like our chords in the chorus changed and landed together to emphasize specific lines.

Kieran: If you could describe your music in three words what would they be? 

Dave: Feel-good indie pop. 

If we’re talking specifically about Decaf Daydream, I’d have to say “Dreamy Coffeehouse Pop.”

Kieran: Lastly, what else is on the horizon for 2024? 

Dave: We just put out a live version of Decaf Daydream which you can catch on the Free Dive Collective YouTube channel. We’ve also been in the studio a lot over the past six months, so we’ll definitely have more new music out this year!