If you are new to the room, let me introduce you to Wattmore. They are made up of two brothers who mainly communicate through guitar strings, thoughtful pauses, and sharp sarcasm. They’ve been here before; you might remember the gritty punch of “I Don’t Miss That Woman.” That song showed their refusal to romanticise the past. Now, with “It’s Called Love… It’s Called the Blues,” they take a quieter, heavier, and more honest approach. They do it without blinking.
Most love songs portray dramatic endings—the slammed door, the shattered glass, the grand goodbye. But “It’s Called Love… It’s Called the Blues doesn’t follow that path. Rather, it reveals a different truth: sometimes love doesn’t fall apart; sometimes it just stays. One day, you wake up and realise the weight you’ve been carrying has a name. That name is the blues. There’s no bitterness here. No grand regrets, just acknowledgement. This kind of recognition comes only from real experience, which makes sense considering the collaboration with Australian songwriter Allan Caswell. The writing feels natural, not forced. It doesn’t chase depth. It simply states what is. And that simplicity is powerful.
The vocals don’t just perform the song; they embody it. There’s a relaxed quality to the delivery, as if the singer stopped trying to impress anyone and found something better: honesty. The phrasing flows naturally, the lines aren’t rushed, and the notes aren’t overdone. When emotion builds, it does so effortlessly, without vocal tricks announcing its presence. What struck me most was the conversational tone. It feels less like a performance and more like someone finally sharing something they’ve kept inside for years. That intimacy creates a quiet tension. You lean in, not because you’re dazzled but because you don’t want to miss the truth. And when the chorus hits, it doesn’t explode; it settles in deeper. That’s harder to pull off than it seems.
This is a minimal production that follows one important rule: space matters. Warm, simple guitars form the backbone, not flashy or excessive. Just a steady, real tone. The rhythm section stays low-key, letting the song breathe rather than forcing it forward. No fancy studio tricks for the sake of show. No loud effects are begging for attention. The blues and alt-country influences shape the feel without taking over. You feel them in the guitar bends, in the groove’s restraint, in the pauses between vocal lines. The production doesn’t try to rescue the emotion; it trusts it. And that trust pays off.
Wattmore has always carried an endearing, offbeat energy, as if they might forget how pockets work but still stumble into brilliance. That quality remains, but here it’s sharpened, focused, and deliberate. The performance feels cohesive. There’s a connection among the players that goes beyond just arrangement. It’s in the restraint, in knowing when to leave a space empty, in letting a lyric land without emphasis. This isn’t a band trying to sound profound; it’s a band that already understands.
This song didn’t grab me right away. It stayed. When it ended, I sat there for a moment, not because I was surprised, but because I felt understood. It reminded me that you don’t need drama for emotional depth. Sometimes, the heaviest feelings come quietly and stay with you. This song feels like the musical equivalent of exhaling after holding something in for too long. It’s steady, grounded, and relatable. In a world fixated on volume and spectacle, that kind of honesty feels almost rebellious.
Wattmore returns not with noise but with subtlety. Not with fire, but with embers that burn longer. “It’s Called Love… It’s Called the Blues” firmly stands in the singer-songwriter tradition while touching on alt-country and blues sounds that enrich rather than adorn. It’s mature without feeling worn out, emotional without being excessive, and straightforward without being trivial. There’s no rush, no unnecessary polish. It’s simply a song that knows when to pause and let the feeling take centre stage. And sometimes, that’s exactly what the blues are for.
Listen to ‘It’s Called Love… It’s Called the Blues’ on Spotify
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