It’s been a while since we’ve heard from Francis Watters, aka Dundalk Ireland’s Future West, but we’re excited by what he’s offering to us now, in the form of new single, ‘Late Last Nite’, which is released today.
‘Late Last Nite’ is one of those songs that you have to listen to right through a few times, because the first couple of times you forget that you’re not meant to be listening “for pleasure”, but that you’re listening to review. The first listen instantly conveyed me to my early 20s when I was studying at art school by day and listening to almost-threatening rock bands by night. There’s an element of danger to ‘Late Last Nite’, with the jangling guitars competing for attention with the drums. Neither of which end up being the ultimate winners however; that belongs purely to Francis Watters and his vocals.
The second listen through, I felt the humour in the track. They’ve not been too precious about the edit, there’s chat among the band members, and that’s after the opening where we hear Francis saying that they may as well go for a take. I really enjoyed it. The ferociousness at about the halfway point of the track is exciting and quite frankly amazing. I’m not sure who Francis and his band listen to for inspiration, but if you told me this was a newly discovered song by Midnight Oil, I’d not blink twice.
Lyrically, Francis has struck gold. It’d be too easy to dismiss it as simply stream of consciousness, but read it out loud and it’s pure poetry. And isn’t that what songs are, are they not conversations set to music?
Don’t wait up at the door for me.
I’m not who you thought I was.
For a second there I lost my ways.
I’m sorry, I’ll be sorry ’til the end of my days.
Now I can’t sleep.
The deafening roar, it keeps telling me “spill the beans and come clean”
This life ain’t for me.I’ve felt it at the bottom. Oh, you’ve been there too?
I went out late last night and now life ain’t easy.
So tell me, how do we get back to normality?
Have I gotta do a 9 – 5 to shake it all off?
Join the gym? Read a book? Put down the telephone?
Instead, I’ll slave over songs.I’ll dream of worldwide fame and still get nothing done.
But it’s all gone wrong again and again.
I’m still sitting at the table with a paper and pen.
Life ain’t easy when you’re not around.
How do you know that I know that it won’t be more than this?
Like, how relatable is all that? We want to know what’s happened, while at the same time, we know deep down that we’ve done the same sort of thing; there’s always something that we’ve not told our partners/friends/family members, that eats away at us and won’t let us be satisfied until we tell them – yet we can’t, we won’t – if we do, it might well spoil everything, so we try and keep to the status quo…with limited results.
‘Late Last Nite’ has something about it that I *really* like. I’m not sure if it’s the nostalgic sound, taking me back a simpler time in my life, or if it’s the clear talent of the artist and his instrumentalists, which Francis tells me is a new line-up for Future West. ‘Late Last Nite’ is the first single from the band as it now stands, as well as the first release from their upcoming new album, which they’re going to drop next year. I think it’s a brilliant song, and clearly a great group Francis has assembled around him. It’s patently obvious that they’re a talented bunch.
‘Late Last Nite’ is out today, and you can stream it below. Check out Future West online on Spotify, YouTube, Bandcamp, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
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