Water From Your Eyes talk Bigfoot, new album 'It's A Beautiful Place', and their 2025 UK/EU tour • Interview • DIY Magazine

Water From Your Eyes are hardly newbies. Formed in Chicago and now based in New York, word-of-mouth buzz followed them from one to the other, the pair’s experimental, unconstrained stylings earning them renown within both cities’ alternative scenes. But it was 2023’s Matador debut ‘Everyone’s Crushed’ that really put them on the critical map - a dance-punk, art-pop record that transcends practically any labels you might deign to put on it. Their eclectic amalgamation of genre-bending fragments came together to form a singular force, and heralded the arrival of something special. Following it up, then, was a tough ask. But Nate Amos and Rachel Brown have managed it.

Their seventh album, ‘It’s A Beautiful Place’, takes this already rich sound and only adds to the tapestry. Here, guitars come to the fore (an instrument Nate shied away from on previous WFYE records), and big themes like God, political theory, and science fiction all get caught up within the LP’s world. And, in expanding and shifting their sound, the pair find themselves in new territory - territory which, though ostensibly unfamiliar, they navigate with remarkable ease. ‘It’s A Beautiful Place’ is weird - and at times disorientating in its layers - but always brilliant. Above all else, it lives up to its name.

Now that the two of them have had time to reflect on the album, and before their upcoming UK/EU tour kicks off, we caught up with Nate and Rachel to discuss the record, the move to Matador, and the influence of Bigfoot. Naturally.

Hello! How are you guys?
Nate: Chillin’.

Rachel: Every few hours a new emotion takes centre stage and the spotlight shines down as it begins its monologue (all in my head of course). So I’m doing fine: often good, sometimes bad, always alive.

It’s been a couple of months since ‘It’s A Beautiful Place’ arrived in the world - congrats on the release! Now you’ve had a bit of time to soak it all in, how have you found people’s responses to the album?
Nate: Thank you! I’m glad people like it. I’m having fun playing the songs live.

Rachel: I have not soaked anything in, but I am very grateful.

‘It’s A Beautiful Place’ is a bit of a shift in sound, given the more prominent guitar work throughout it. Was there a particular reason for this shift, and how did it change your writing process (if at all)?
Nate: No particular reason - I was just playing more guitar while working on it. I wrote more of the songs on guitar this time around, but the writing process didn’t feel all that different.

Rachel: Nate started playing guitar all the time. He started watching Youtube videos of pedal demos and got a bit less into his computer.

“We don’t chase humour; we just don’t run away from it.”

— Nate Amos

There are big themes on this record which deal with God, the universe, and capitalism (to name a few), but it also feels like one of your most accessible albums to date. Did you ever experience a conflict between the two?
Nate: No conflict really - it all felt like a natural response to me. We both ended up in that zone without really talking about it too much.

Rachel: I don’t think there is anything more accessible than the concept of life and everything that gives life structure. I would say the “big themes” tend to be the things that we all have in common; maybe that’s why they feel so big.

It also feels like you guys really take everything to its absolute end point - is it important to see just how much you can get out of an idea? And is that a conscious process?
Nate: I just kind of work on things until they feel done; there’s not a sense of ‘we gotta take this all the way’. I feel like a lot of the stuff on this album was dropped off at a more accessible point before taking it too far.

Rachel: Honestly, I don’t know where we start or end - it all just seems to happen.

You’ve talked before about humour playing a big role in your writing - can you expand on why things being funny and silly is so important to you, and how you make sure things don’t get too serious?
Nate: It’s not really a thing we think about. It’s not so much about [saying] ‘it’s gonna be funny’ as it is ‘well, if the idea is funny let’s not get in the way’. We don’t chase humour; we just don’t run away from it.

Rachel: I’ve always just been silly and so has my life. Even the saddest things in life tend to get a laugh out of me. I think when something strikes a chord true to my deepest understanding of my existence, I can’t help but giggle, even if it hurts. I don’t think I would have the courage to perform if I hadn’t done stand up comedy in high school before I ever hit the stage playing music. Also, I’m not a doctor or a scientist or a teacher - nothing I do is that serious.

You’ve also said that Robin Williams is a “silent member” of Water From Your Eyes. Are there any other more unexpected sources of inspiration behind ‘It’s A Beautiful Place’?
Nate: I was thinking about Bigfoot a lot.

Rachel: My clinical depression.

“The only way the project can continue to feel like the same thing, despite each album sounding like it’s from a different universe, is to keep the process as insular as possible.”

— Rachel Brown

Over the past few years, you’ve made the move to Matador and had a whole host of new opportunities as a result (supporting Interpol and Snail Mail, for instance). You’ve also spoken previously about mental health and the pressures of being a DIY musician. Now that you’re two albums in with Matador, have those pressures changed? How have you found that jump to being signed to a label? And how do you find that balances with your DIY ethos?
Nate: We’ve had to accept a lot more help and get more people involved, for sure. We’ve definitely made sure that nothing affects the music itself but have had to let the business grow and legitimize in a way that is definitely not DIY. There’s more pressure to make sure the music is good, but I try not to think about that too much.

Rachel: Things have definitely gotten easier. I’m not really all that sad about not sleeping on the floor of strangers’ apartments anymore. I think the pressures feel the same; how do we make and perform music in a way that is fulfilling to us and captivating for other people? I think we’ve had to learn to say no to things that we otherwise would’ve been down to clown on. We were never a touring band before 2022, and we signed with Matador after the first two tours. I didn’t have a reference point for any of this stuff. I don’t know, I’m still just trying to learn how to provide my body with sustenance. Sometimes it feels like everything has changed, but most of the time it’s all just one singular moment stretched across a lifetime.

You’ve also expanded the band when playing live - how has that been? And did that have any effect on the album; were you thinking about that when writing, or do you try and keep live and recording separate?
Nate: Playing with a full live band is fun. I arranged ‘Life Signs’ to be more of a rock song for that reason, but overall it didn’t have much of an effect on the album - most of it was written before we had the full live band anyway.

Rachel: Live and recording are very separate, but I love touring with Al [Nardo, guitarist] and Bailey [Wollowitz, drummer]. They help keep our heads screwed on. I think the only way the project can continue to feel like the same thing, despite each album sounding like it’s from a different universe, is to keep the process as insular as possible between Nate and I. But the only way we can get through touring for months out of the year is to travel the world with our friends.

Speaking of playing live - the UK and Europe leg of your album tour is just around the corner. What have you made of these shows so far? And is there anything that you’re particularly looking forward to?
Nate: The shows have been great; I like playing guitar, and I’m particularly excited to play more shows with Morgan Garrett in the UK.

Rachel: I got so nervous that ticket sales were low that I got taken off the email thread, but it turns out a lot of shows have sold out so… that’s awesome, but also I feel dumb. I’m very excited for London, as we have a lot of friends there, and I’m also very excited to play in Glasgow, because I really love Scotland - I had the best time after the first show we ever did there doing karaoke in the bar upstairs.

‘It’s A Beautiful Place’ is out now via Matador.

Water From Your Eyes’ UK/EU tour starts 13th November; find out more here.

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