Richard Walters is like a lot of twenty-six-year-olds. He’s settling down with a girlfriend – they’re off flat-hunting after this interview – he’s increasingly worried about approaching thirty, and still wondering whether not going to uni was the right thing to do – Richard dropped out before term had even started, his parents didn’t talk to him for a year as a result.

Unlike most twenty-six-year-olds, however, he writes dazzlingly beautiful, haunting songs. Fragile and mesmeric, forthcoming single ‘Brittle Bones’ sums up his sound perfectly, and marks a slight change in direction from last year’s EP, ‘Pilot Lights’. While the latter owes more than a little to the atmospherics of edgy, claustrophobic electronica, ‘Brittle Bones’ is warm and comforting, and the B-side, a cover of Daniel Johnston’s ‘True Love Will Find You In The End’, could make even the hardest of souls weep like a baby. “I was working with someone who told me their son was obsessed with that song,” says the Oxford-born musician, who was childhood friends with members of Foals. “I recorded a cover just for him, but it kind of stuck with me. It’s a beautiful song.”

Working with people has been a constant throughout Walters’ career, touring with the likes of Gemma Hayes and Imogen Heap, and recording with Bernard Butler and Guy Sigsworth, Heap’s bandmate in now defunct duo Frou Frou.

While Walters may not have recorded his debut album as a solo artist, he very nearly hit the big time once already. As the singer in Theremin, he was poised for success, but as is often the way in fledgling bands, the money from a big publishing deal caused a rift between members, and not long after Richard walked. “I learned by being in that band that it’s difficult to be in a band,” he says. “We all fell out really quickly. It stopped being a creative, fun thing, and I wasn’t too keen on that. I like doing things on my own, and I don’t want to have confrontations with people over something that’s supposed to be enjoyable.”

This time around he’s keen to do it his way, with a little help from some esteemed producers along the way. “We did start recording with [Playgroup’s] David Kosten, who produced ‘Brittle Bones’,” he says, “but we ran into, er, financial difficulties. We then got Dan Austin, who did the Cherry Ghost album, but we’ve kind of missed our opportunity with him for the time being. We’re hoping to start this autumn, and have something out by February next year.”

• Login or register to post comments
• Email this page