Something More! is San Francisco by way of Los Angeles indie pop band Waters' first release since 2015's acclaimed What's Real. Written and recorded throughout 2016 in LA, following big-time touring runs with the likes of Weezer, Tegan and Sara, and Matt and Kim, the album came together after the five-piece band returned home and were forced to confront the day-to-day realities of everyday life. Frontman Van Pierszalowski sees Something More! as both a gut-punch and a wake-up call to his younger self.
And while lead single "Hiccups," produced by Tim Pagnotta (Walk The Moon), sounds euphoric on first listen - all chant-along vocals, adolescent angst and rowdy riffs - it finds Pierszalowski bellowing "I ain't got no regrets...all my fuck-ups, all my hiccups, only brought me to you." "I wanted to express that the fuck-ups and the mistakes are a necessary part of the struggle to figure shit out. Don't beat yourself up about it so damn much," he says of the Pinkerton-inspired cut.
To that end, the bulk of the songs that comprise Something More! speak to feelings of restlessness and being alone, as well as having uber-intense issues with lovers, friends and family. But, as Pierszalowski says in explaining how in spite of this the album contains some of the most raucous, hook-driven songs of the band's career, "These songs are pop songs. They sound fun on the surface. But they are dark songs in disguise."