Robert Walter has returned with the next two installments of his Better Feathers series of digital 45’s. The two singles released on Wednesday, “Better Feathers” and “Bloodstar”, feature Stanton Moore (Galactic) and Craig Brodhead (Turkuaz) respectively.
On the titular “Better Feathers”, listeners find Walter in his familiar environment of laid-back acid-jazz. With the aid of Moore on the backbeat, the song chugs along into a more forward-thinking composition as it draws Walter’s organ out of the shadows and onto the dancefloor. In the second single, “Bloodstar”, Walter identifies more with the “late 70s NYC dance music, dub reggae, archaic blues, Krautrock, jazz, and funk” that he says inspired the Better Feathers series in the first place. Alongside Brodhead, the funky track thumps along to a vintage backroom groove.
This pair of songs come as the third monthly edition of the Better Feathers series launched by the keyboardist back in June. The series of what Walter calls “digital 45s” finds him teaming up with peers including Mike Gordon, John Kimock, Jake Najor, Chris Stillwell, Brodhead, and Moore, who appears throughout the six-installment, 12-song series. Better Feathers, distributed via Royal Potato Family, is set to run through October.
As for the name Better Feathers, Walter has said that it refers to the process of birds shedding their old feathers for new, “better” ones. He wrote all of the songs during quarantine, noting, “it was time to shift gears and think of the situation as a positive and not a negative; an unexpected abundance of time to emerge with something of value.”
Listen to “Better Feathers” featuring Stanton Moore and “Bloodstar” featuring Craig Brodhead, the two latest installments of Robert Walter’s Better Feathers series, below or on your preferred streaming platform.
Robert Walter – “Better Feathers” (ft. Stanton Moore)
[Video: The Royal Potato Family]
Robert Walter – “Bloodstar” (ft. Craig Brodhead)
[Video: The Royal Potato Family]