Sean Waterman – “Slow Heat”
Sean Waterman – “Slow Heat” – Single Review
Sean! It has been way, way too long my friend!
I mean that, sincerely – wassup – where’s the new music been hiding all this time?
The pressure’s on! It was way back in 2021 that we last featured him on these pages of ours, so this new single better be real damn good, right?
Waterman knows I’ve got nothing but love for him and his music – he’s an exceptional talent and an all-around great guy from what I can tell. Some of you might remember the review I wrote on his album called Devices – and some of you might also remember how that landed him in our top ten of the year. I know I haven’t forgotten, that I can tell you. Devices introduced us all to how special this dude really is.
So…the business at hand…“Slow Heat.” Did I expect it to be great? Absolutely. Was it? Yes indeed it is. Was it worth the more than five year wait for me to get my ears on some new tunes from Sean? Well…
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………you know something? I’m actually going to go with a huge YES. I think you’ve all gotten the sense that I’m big on the music Sean writes, but objectively speaking, for as long as the guy has been away from us for here at sleepingbagstudios, I’m seriously impressed that this DID feel like it was worth the waiting. How could it NOT though, right? Waterman’s voice is so freakin’ smooth and sincere that the moment you hear it, what are you supposed to do – not listen from there? C’mon y’all. You’d have to be made out of pure granite stone to not want to keep listening to “Slow Heat” from the moment the man hits the microphone! I heard Sean’s new single for the first time and realized that the quality he brings to his music hasn’t dropped in the slightest…and now I’m left to wonder the guy ever misses. For real – I know…sounds like I’m being hyperbolic to an extent, though mind you, I already told ya he’s put out a record that made our top ten in the past…I invite you to take the Pepsi challenge and have a listen for yourself so that you can confirm what I’m saying is true. Somehow, this guy beat the overwhelming odds, and delivered something that’s every bit as awesome as everything I’ve heard from him so far.
LISTEN to that production, will ya? Waterman doesn’t know this, but I’ve been railing against a whole bunch of folks using that whole blown-out style of sound as of late, so believe me when I tell ya, it’s fantastic to be able to HEAR which side of the argument that Sean would be on. The crystal clarity of “Slow Heat” is extremely enticing to listen to for starters – and like, the amount of detail this guy has threaded into the background of this single is nothing short of remarkable, truly. You’ll know what I’m talking about when you hear it for yourself…like, for what you might think would be a fairly straightforward Pop/R&B tune at the start, you’ll hear all kinds of clever additions and ambient sounds in the mix along the way behind the main meat of the song. What’s like…practically insane…is that it all fits in seamlessly. For as many unique pieces there are added to “Slow Heat” along the way, it’s quite commendable that any set of ears will be more than happy to accept whatever new sound comes at them next, especially when the main aspects of the melody and rhythm remain such a constant as the song plays on. Where he could have easily gone one step too far or added one ingredient too many, he’s found an outstanding way to even make the background of his song extraordinarily interesting to listen to. Obviously he’s got the main verses, choruses, and bridge locked down – this is Mr. Sean Waterman after all, and like I was tellin’ ya earlier, it’s virtually like the guy cannot miss when it comes to the music he makes. That acoustic guitar! Dude’s on fire! The beat…is perfection. The sounds drifting around from the left to the rights – brilliant. The descent into the bridge – excellent. Folks, do you REALIZE what I’m saying here? When was the last time you saw me writing about how much I like the bridge in a song? It has been a WHILE y’all. That’s the Sean Waterman effect though. He just gets it. He knows how to make the emotion connect in the songs he writes, and he knows precisely how to make sensory sound you can genuinely feel from the music to the microphone. There are more good things to say about “Slow Heat” than I have digital pages to write about it on – that’s the truth as I hear it. You might be able to get me to agree that it’s a lateral move in comparison to the greatness we experienced on Devices, but mannnnn…consistency is a freakin’ amazing thing to be when you sound THIS good. Quality takes time, as they say, and if this is the level of quality we’re talking about, I’m telling you it’s 100% worth waiting for, no matter how long it has been since you last listened to Sean.
Is it a no notes situation here? For all intents and purposes, yeah, it is. That being said, do I have any beef with “Slow Heat,” or is there anything I would change? I mean…I’ve always got a little something to say, don’t I? Look. At less than three minutes in length, and it being FIVE YEARS and all since I was last listening to new Sean Waterman music…how am I realistically supposed to say I’ve got enough here in a song this short!?! Not only that, but like…c’mon…”Slow Heat” really starts cookin’ in a whole new gear in the twenty seconds right before it’s finished too – and I wanted like, at least another minute of that as well! We gotta get you up to at least the 3:30 mark Sean…or 4:30 if you really wanna be a hero brother-man. I’m not gonna stop you at 5:30 either – I think that’d be the best 6:30 song I’d ever hear.
You get the point…I’d listen to Sean sing the phonebook from cover to cover and never complain about it, and I know for a verifiable fact I’m not the only listener that feels that way. This man was born to make music…and however we can encourage him to make MORE of it, believe me I’m onboard with that plan. “Slow Heat” is subtly innovative, innately charming, lyrically poetic, and emotionally powerful – Sean’s commitment to the moment in his recordings is absolutely second to none, and the consistency of the quality in all that he does is impossible to miss. I’m stoked to have this guy featured up on our site here again, and even more stoked to have his music beaming out of my speakers as it should be.
“Slow Heat” arrives online this July 31st – until then, find out more about Sean Waterman from his official page at Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/seanwatermanmusic
Click this link right here to be the next artist or band featured here at sleepingbagstudios, because hey – why not? All the cool kids are doing it.
