After two well-received full-lengths, 2012’s Time’s All Gone and 2014’s Holly, Waterhouse returns with his latest offering, Never Twice.
Catchier and loaded with more hits than its predecessors, Nick’s new LP is at the same time harder hitting, more rhythmic, more harmonic, more diverse, and more adventurous than both those albums. A cool and elegant post-post-modern cocktail of 1950s r&b and club jazz, mixed with 1960s soul and boogaloo, and shaken with a minimal contemporary sensibility, ‘Never Twice’ finds the artist taking his time, refining his vision, and speaking with new authority.
With Never Twice, Nick Waterhouse returned to his original collaborator, producer Michael McHugh (Black Lips, Ty Segall). McHugh was the first person to ever put Nick on tape and in an effort to re-capture the vibrancy of the Huntington Beach scene of Nick’s youth, he invited McHugh up to his current home of San Francisco to work the boards once again. Once he had McHugh on board, Nick began cold-calling his favorite players, all of whom miraculously said yes. Jazz musician Bob Kenmotsu’s contributed flute, Tom Waits and Elvis Costello collaborator Ralph Carney on sax, Dr. Lonnie Smith protege Will Blades on Organ and a virtual whose who of muso legends on horns, bass and guitar. The result is an exuberant and impeccably recorded album of songs, showcasing Waterhouse’s prowess as a musician and a band-leader.
Never Twice includes the single Katchi, which features the vocals of the Grammy-nominated Leon Bridges.