Here’s the absorbing new single from UK singer-songwriter Richard Walters. ‘After Midnight’ is notable for the characterful quality of Walters’ voice, alongside the compelling vocal tune he delivers. This is a song about reaching a calmer stage of life when the thought of going out on the town fills you with dread while the taxi ride home brings a wave of relief. Walters explains the song: “My attempt at being Springsteen! The older I get, the more home-based I become. It’s a feeling I’ve noticed other friends my age expressing. So it’s a middle aged anthem about not wanting to be out on the town post-midnight, about the beauty of the quiet life and the taxi home.”
Although work on Walters’ forthcoming album, ‘Murmurate’, began during the pandemic, it is more a reflection on the period immediately after the lockdowns. It was a time when we emerged from isolation, forged new creative links, networks and opportunities and embraced our newfound freedom. Above all, in the post-pandemic world, we need to recognise how we have changed as individuals – ‘Murmurate’ is a personal, intimate introspective album. Walters says: “When the world started to wake up again post lockdown I sprinted towards the door; I bolted, with unbelievable enthusiasm and joy, and I fell. I wiped out a fair few times in my desire to get back into a routine, to return to normality. I eventually found myself moving back from the bustle and noise, a combination of anxiety and a previously unearthed desire for more and more calm…. For me this is not a lockdown record. It was largely written in 2022, post weirdness, but many of the songs do tap into that sense of post-lockdown-anxiety (PLA!?) and the mixed up, confused feeling of needing to be elsewhere but feeling the tug of home.” Check out the album on 17th November 2023.
