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Jan 26, 2022 By Caleb Campbell Photography by Hannah Garrett

Portland indie folk singer/songwriter Erisy Watt debuted in 2019 with her first full-length album, Paints In The Sky. Today, after a few years of silence, she’s announced her upcoming sophomore album, Eyes Like the Ocean, due out April 1st on American Standard Time Records. Her latest record once again finds her following the path of fellow indie singer/songwriters like Hurray For The Riff Raff, Bedouine, or Halley Heynderickx, tracing her restless path through adulthood via understated, intimate folk treasures. Today, accompanying the announcement, Watt also shared her lead single from the record, “New Same,” premiering with Under the Radar.

“New Same” finds Watt at the cusp of new beginnings, yet walking the same path and making the same mistakes. The earthen chimes of guitar guide Watt’s gentle lament as she sings一“It’s a new page / I write the same words / And it’s a new year / And I’m the same girl.” Yet, while the song reflects on old mistakes, it feels colored not by melancholy, but by the hope of a new future. Even while naming her own imperfections, Watt crafts a ballad full of empathy and grace, an intimate tribute to the treacherous winding path of growth.

Watt says of the track, “I was reflecting on habits, trying to break the old and shape the new, and I was feeling stuck. We all want to blossom into the best versions of ourselves and often forget that it takes time, that it’s never a linear path. Old voices linger. Old behaviors crop up. I’m learning that it’s not so much about getting rid of those things completely but being able to name them when they do appear. ‘New Same’ is about acceptance, about shifting vantage points, about leaning in and letting go.”

Check out the song below. Eyes Like the Ocean is due out April 1st via American Standard Time Records.