Watch Me Breathe has always been about being honest and as authentic as they can be. Vocalist Jake Aaron Ward formed the band in 2017, citing his frustration a being a solo artist as influence. “As a solo artist, I just got fed up with trying to write music only to please other people. Watch Me Breathe is really an experiment that says: ‘what would I write if nobody else was listening?’”
In February 2018, Watch Me Breathe released their debut album, The Lighter Side of Darkness, and have been steadily growing their following on Youtube and Spotify, with the numbers only continuing to grow.
Watch Me Breathe isn’t just a solo effort, per se, but the recording process is not unlike artists Tame Impala and Bon Iver. Ward writes, performs, records, mixes, and masters every song entirely by himself, in his own California home studio. He cites his eclectic range of influences — Peter Gabriel, The Police, Goo Goo Dolls, and more — and humorously explains that, “I just kind of suck at collaborating.” In concert; however, Ward handles guitar and vocals, while bass is covered by Ryan Green, and his younger brother Carl Ward takes care of drums.
Watch Me Breathe is gearing up to release a new EP this fall, and to hold fans over, Substream is excited to team up with the band to bring an exclusive premiere of the lyric video to their new song, “Don’t Think I Haven’t Thought About It.”
“While this is technically a song about being stuck in the friend zone, to me it’s really about honesty. Life is tragically short, and it’s no place to just wade around in the shallow water, waiting for someone else to step forward,” Jake Aaron Ward tells Substream. “I say, be the one to break the walls. Say how you really feel, and say it out loud for the world to hear it – that’s what I did, and we’ve now been together for over a year.”
Listen to the song for yourself below.
