Water Street is an emerging indie-Americana group from New Jersey. They first got together in 2014 and made their professional recording debut two years later with the album Waiting for Martin. That record introduced a band with a soulful sound, built on equal parts pop, rock and country. It is a vibe that immediately sets them apart from the indie-rock norms of their Northwestern Jersey music scene.
Since their inception, Water Street has played regularly throughout the NY/NJ/PA tri-state area. Their unique recipe of acoustic singer/songwriter soul, pop sensibilities and rock & roll edge has connected with fans around the world. The band followed their debut with the six-song EP Dear You in 2018.
All We Tried to Be is the latest album from Water Street, available worldwide via all major streaming services. The eleven-song collection finds the now-seasoned and road-tested band at the top of their game. The record is a testament to their musicianship and to what the band accurately describes as their, “dynamic energy and genuine likeability”.
From the upbeat, countrified alt-pop of the romantic escape-fantasy opener “Alexandra” to the retrospective indie-pop of “What a Life”, Water Street tells tales of life’s everyday dramas set to mid-tempo Americana grooves. The band creates the scene with an organic mix of acoustic and electric instruments. It is the perfect setting for lead singer Dave Paulson’s universally relatable tales of love, loss and introspection.
We lament what could have been on the wistful “The Promise I Made”, and we join Paulson in the dog house on the bluesy “Dog Song ”. The record takes a global view on the cautiously optimistic “People ” before bringing it back home with love songs like “On My Way” and the melancholy “Summer Rose”. Throughout the album the band expertly weaves together elements of rock, pop, country and funk into a seamless and distinct vibe.
Check out “All We Tried to Be” in its entirety below, or listen on your favorite streaming service. Check out the song “Be All There” on the Deep Indie Dive playlist. We had the chance to chat with the band about their new album. Check out their answers to our 8 questions below. Follow the links at the end of this article to connect with Water Street. Get on their socials and get in the loop on all of the music to come from this talented crew.
8 Questions with Water Street
Where are you from?
Water Street is from Blairstown in the northwestern part of NJ
How long have you been making music?
The band has been playing through the NY/NJ/PA region since 2014
Who are the musicians involved in your project?
Dave Paulson – acoustic/vocals, Julia Aiello – vocals, Connor Konecnik – Drums, TJ Viola – Keys, Joe Byrne-Bass and Mike Stark- Electric Guitar
Who are your biggest musical influences?
Head and the Heart, John Mayer, Bleachers
What is your greatest non-musical influence?
It’s really our roots and families. Joe, Mike, Connor and Dave all met through school and growing up together. Water Street is sort of an oddity for Jersey. Much of the music is Indie Pop/Punk in the Jersey scene, so a band from the northwest woods playing Indie/American/Rock is a bit different/
What inspired you to create this project?
We worked on All We Tried To Be for a few years. We had actually started recording down in Asbury Park, NJ where the music scene is really centered in NJ. But then COVID hit and the studio we were working in closed down. We tried to reroute and booked time in other studios during the pandemic but each time the engineer got sick or there was some other outbreak and things would clamp back down.
So we ended up hiring Joe Webster, a NY based engineer/producer to come out to Blairstown and record the back end of the album in an old warehouse on our own. The album is a collection of songs written primarily by Dave that were inspired by life during the COVID epidemic, going through breakups, getting a dog, watching the political unrest around the lead up and after the election.
What are your plans for the future (musically)?
We are currently getting ready to release 3 singles that we’ve recorded and are writing some new songs. Mike and Joe are going to be stepping back to focus on their day jobs so we have some new band members coming on that will be featured in the new songs.
Is there anything else you would like to say?
We’re really grateful that we were able to create this album together. Playing music is really a great honor, but when you get to create and perform with people that are like family and you get to step back and see what you all have a hand in making, there’s really nothing better.
