On The Verge

WATERS

San Francisco, Calif.
Second Chances
www.thisiswaters.com

In early 2010, after three albums and countless shows, singer/songwriter /guitarist Van Pierszalowski’s indie-folk outfit Port O’Brien ceased to exist. With no band and nothing to do, he began spending a good deal of time with his new girlfriend in Norway, as well as with other friends in New York, California (where he’s from) and Alaska (where he often works on his father’s fishing boat). Inspired by “the process of existing in between places,” as he puts it, Pierszalowski began writing new material, calling the project WATERS. Featuring fuzzed out guitars and epic hooks, the music is far more intense than anything from the Port O’Brien catalog, and the 2011 debut, Out in the Light, owes a certain debt to Pierszalowski’s favorite album of all time, Nirvana’s 1993 classic In Utero. (His album is decidedly more hopeful in nature.) Pierszalowski says that the songs are “about starting over—starting from scratch—and trying not to be scared about that. It’s harder to start a new band after you’ve done it before, when you’re 26 as opposed to 19.” But with age comes wisdom, and based on Out in the Light, Pierszalowski doesn’t have anything to fear.