Chicago Bedroom Pop Artist Walker Shares His Debut Album "Phew"
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Songwriter and guitar virtuoso Walker Landgraf, who shares music simply as Walker, just self-released his debut album “Phew” independently. He recorded, produced, and even mastered the entire album himself outside of a cello (Jonathan Gardner), trumpet (Noe Mina), and mixing by Daniel Hayn.
Blending literal bedroom pop production and classic R&B, the songs catalog a lot of Walker’s experiences over the past few years, from finally finding his “home” in Chicago after growing up in LA and going to music school in NYC to sorting through the bitter feelings that follow a break-up.
Atwood Magazine summed up Walker’s music well earlier this fall when they wrote, "his songs are catchy and fit into a greater pop frame, but within his music one can expect to hear everything from jazz, to blues, to classic R&B." Crossing over into other genres helped him to get on Spotify’s official playlist Fresh Finds Jazz too.
Citing artists like D'Angelo, Paul McCartney, and Shuggie Otis as inspirations, Walker is set on classic, soulful songwriting with a modern sound through (literal) bedroom pop production while recording and producing everything himself.
Walker said of the title and concept, “the album is called ‘Phew’ because it’s about the first time in my life when I stopped and took a breath. I had just graduated from NYU and moved from New York to Chicago. I slowed things down and took a moment to process my life up until then and take care of myself.”
He continued to describe the process, saying, “I made the album completely by myself in my apartment using my collection of drums, guitars, synths and audio gear The process was a lot about letting go of self criticism and just doing my best. I allowed myself to write about whatever, whenever. And at the peak moment of the recording process I was spending 5-10 hours every day.”
Walker started playing jazz guitar at 16 and then quickly picked up digital production and beat-making. As he studied music in college, he brings his adept skills as a multi-instrumentalist — recording every single instrument on his upcoming album at home — to create intelligent but soulful, pop-based music.
After working with two major labels for some of his previous singles and EPs, Walker proudly self-released his debut album “Phew”.
Listen to Walker’s new album now, stream it on Apple Music and connect with him on social media.