Nathan Walters isn’t new to the North Texas Music scene. Whether performing with other local artists such as Ayden Trammel and the 40 Stories, KindKeith, or One-Eyed Monsters, he’s always working on a new project. One of these new projects is his new album under the stage name, The Plastic Daisies: “Eat Your Brain For Breakfast.”
“I’m terrible with free time,” Walters says. “I get anxious. I start to feel like I’m not working hard enough.”
While he may not feel like he’s working hard enough, those who have listened to the wide array of Nathan’s work would beg to differ. The Arlington native’s first full-length album, “Eat Your Brain For Breakfast,” is a testament to Walters’ growth and hard work as a musician over the years.
The album, featuring the talents of KindKeith and Aaron Payton, served not only as Walter’s first full-length under the moniker The Plastic Daisies, but as his capstone project for Texas State’s Sound Recording Technology program –showcasing his growth not only as an artist, but as a producer and student as well.
Knowing that a full-length Plastic Daisies album was in his future, all Walters needed was time – time that the pandemic amply provided. Locking himself in his parents’ sunroom-turned-music room, Walters was able to expand upon several pre-recorded songs and document this period of time through the record.
“It was kind of a mix of having free time and needing something to organize my thoughts,” he says. “It was like a diary to document how I felt … the whole COVID thing was kinda heavy and … I was dealing with that and some heavier things. [The album] helped to have something to exercise and get that out on paper, and not in an uncomfortable way.”
Just as he describes, “Eat Your Brain For Breakfast” is the psychedelic/indie rock diary to this period of Walters’ life. Dealing with the isolation of the pandemic and the recent loss of a friend and former bandmate, Walters brings the listener into his mind, melodically examining feelings of loss and introspection across the nine tracks.
Standout cuts on the album such as “December” document the isolation of a winter’s quarantine and the difficulty for so many to connect throughout this period of time, a feeling that resonated with many over this past year. Opening the track with the lyrics. “It’s so hard to reach out and try to touch somebody,” Walters encapsulates what so many felt through this period of time, but couldn’t quite articulate – nevertheless articulate to an accompanying track.
Alongside recording original works, The Plastic Daisies album pays homage to jazz and funk influences, with a cover of Cannonball Adderley’s “Nardis” on track five and rounding out the record with Sly and the Family Stone’s “If This Room Could Talk.”
While the world may be emerging from the pandemic, “Eat Your Brain For Breakfast” acts as a time capsule, documenting this odd moment in all of our lives. So if you’ve been looking for an album that showcases a wide array of musical emotions through rock, or simply “want to know what [Nathan] was thinking for a majority of 2020” … here you go.
You can find Nathan Walters on Instagram @nathan_walt and listen to the album “Eat Your Brain For Breakfast” on Spotify and Apple Music.
