New Music: "Clearer than Crystal"

“Clearer than Crystal” Cover Art, now streaming on Spotify, Apple, YouTube

“Clearer than Crystal” is Live!

🎉 Now on Spotify, Apple, YouTube 🎉

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The Backstory: Summer of 2020, housesitting in the hills to the west of Fort Collins: Red Feather Lakes, Glacier Meadows Gate 7. (What Would Bon Iver Do?). Set up the portable studio at the large dining room table, one that looked out over the rock formations and “Cathedral Pines.”

The Seed: How I liked the sound of an over-exaggerated vibrato on the octave of single-string plucked C-major barre chord. (pitches love vibrato).

Personnel: I did all the primary tracking - self-recorded guitar, vocals, bass, clapping, and synth. Tyler Lindgren, from the Void, added percussion after the fact. (“Is that a gong?!?!, Justin asked), audio processing, mix and master.

Production/Engineering: Epiphone Flat-top Acoustic → NTK and an NT5 → Apogee Duet 2 → Ableton Live. T’s further magic a mystery.

The Music: Not much to see here: just me being lazy, “exploring” super simple songs that don’t change. C to D to G, on repeat. Starting on recording on the G, the third bar of the phrase, to add “mystique.” 4/4 with swing-vibe hand claps. Stacked acoustic beds, vocal scat. Fitting for the mountain environs.

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The Arrangement: Went super basic. Acoustic guitar beds, bass, hand-claps for the percussion. Synth atmospheric swells. Kick and snare space and a gong for good measure. Stripped back sonic separation in the second verse.

The Irony: I rarely write songs that “mean” anything (“Easier” and “Easy Graces” and “Put up a Bet” are an exception). Here, I have no idea what I’m talking about. “Clearer than Crystal” is pretty unclear. The lyrics are mumbled, with a certain snarky vibe: Everything you need to know is happening right now. Give it up, and let it go. You can see yourself. You can see the whole world. Take responsibility. Don’t hide. It’s on you.

The Lyrics: I can’t say what they mean.

Gonna sail gonna get away
Get a break and I will say
Turn the waves and I find I might save my mind

Not a worry get a word of mine
But it seems a letter just fine
No say your gonna giddy up phase my mind

Oh a ah-oh-I Oh a ah-oh-I

That’s easier, you don’t say
Add it up and then take away
Just a sequins of another day find you go

Yeah its clearer than crystal
Put it up and than let it go
It’s a coasting of the disco find
My mind

Oh a ah-oh-I Oh a ah-oh-I
Oh a ah-oh-I Oh a ah-oh-I

That’s easier, you don’t say
Add it up and then take away
Just a sequence of another day find you go

Yeah its clearer than crystal
Put it up and than let it go
Just a costing of the disco find my mind

Oh a ah-oh-I
Oh a ah-oh-I
Oh a ah-oh-I
Oh a ah-oh-I

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The Expenses:
[] $300 for the drums, mix, master
[] $178 submission fees to bloggers and play-listers I like
[] $0 for the cover art from homie Ehren Crumpler.
[] $0 for the me and home studio time, pure joy, baby!

By my math, ~110,000 streams on Spotify, or 49,000 streams on Apple to re-coup production and promotion costs.

OR! just 5 monthly paid subscribers here on Substack, the most glorious platform for arts and culture we know of.

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Love love love love love you

Sean

outside the cabin where I wrote the song.

The Press Release:

9 May 2025 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Colorado Indie-Folk singer-songwriter makes imaginary friends.   

For fans of Jack Johnson, Father John Misty, Fruit Bats, Iron and Wine. 

A whimsical indie-folk ode to wonder, "Clearer than Crystal" is the twelfth single from Colorado's Sean Waters, who, recording with the Sunrise Genius, has drawn comparisons to Jack Johnson in the Argentinian Rolling Stone.  

Subtle ambient soundscapes of modern Colorado folk, this is chill, happy music for the onset of summer.

Waters has been called “grounded, poetic, and striking” (Two Story Melody) crafting “ruminative Colorado Americana” (Indie is not a Genre). He’s performed over 1000 shows including a Colorado Showcase at SXSW, and finds airtime on Colorado adult contemporary stations 93.3 KTCL and 105.5 the Colorado Sound.

Waters says that this release gets in touch with what a healer told him his purpose in this life was: to gather groups together in the spirit of joy. There’s joy in this one, from the hand-claps to the gong, a kind of happy chill Colorado Americana.

"life is music, love the only language." 

“Clearer than Crystal”, a new entry in the Colorado Alternative Americana canon, is now available on all major streaming platforms.

For further information and booking requests, please contact:
woodstackrecords at gmail.com

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The Rejections: I sent this song to bloggers and playlists all over the world, and some pretty good ones picked it up! JourneysWithMusic, Indie Hits NFT, Fresh Finds Indie/Folk/Pop, Rock Road Trip, and May the Folk Be With You.

Just-for-fun bonus for paid subscribers, here’s a selection of the best rejections.