Two years after waltzerr’s debut EP Small Talk, Tomorrow Will Be Better delivers gritty, guitar-driven rock that honors the Seattle sound.
Waltzerr formed in 2023 and honed their sound playing live shows. The result is heavy, fuzzy guitar work paired with deep, reflective songwriting and emotional vocals that hit every mark for alternative rock fans.
Quick Pulse
- Label: Share It Music
- Released: August 28, 2026
- Genre: Rock
- Style: Indie / Alternative
- Website: waltzerr.com
waltzerr on ‘Tomorrow Will Be Better’
Sonic Pulse Reviews recently asked waltzerr about 'Tomorrow Will Be Better', songwriting, influences and the Seattle legacy.
SPR: waltzerr might be new to some of our readers. Will you take a moment to introduce the band, which instruments you each play, how you formed?
Emily: The band consists of Emily (Vox), Anthony (Bass), and Schuyler (Lead Guitar). We were formed through the power of craigslist. The band used to be me and some of my friends, but we mostly just played in my friend’s spare bedroom.
They didn’t really want to play real shows and so I put out a craigslist ad looking for people to join my band. Anthony was the first to join and then Schuyler a couple months after.
SPR: Emily, you’re credited as the sole songwriter. Walk us through how a song like “Ciggy B” goes from an idea in your head to something the full band is playing. How much do Anthony and Schuyler shape the arrangement once you bring in a song?
Emily: I usually start writing at 11pm at night. I keep a journal and will pull from that a lot of times. I almost always start with lyrics and then i’ll find some guitar chords and a melody I like and edit the lyrics around that.
Once i have the full song flushed out I will work with our producer, Jesse Field, to solidify the formatting of the song. He actually plays rhythm/random layers of guitar on all of the songs on the record.
I like working with Jesse early on so we can get the guitar tones and vibe of the song down, since that really drives everything else. Because Anthony and Schuyler live in a different state from Jesse and I, a lot of their parts are formed by sending stems back and forth, and making edits until we’re all in studio together for final takes.
Arrangement doesn’t usually change too much unless we get to studio, play it all together, and realize it doesn’t sound as good as we thought.
Digging into 'Tomorrow Will Be Better'
I was incredibly angry writing that song...
SPR: The title Tomorrow Will Be Better reads almost like a mantra. Is that meant sincerely, ironically, or somewhere in between?
Emily: I think a little bit of both. I think it’s what you have to tell yourself a lot of the time whether you actually mean it or not.
SPR: The album moves between catharsis and quiet reflection — was there a specific song on Tomorrow Will Be Better that was hardest to finish, either lyrically or musically?
Emily: “Counting Clovers” was pretty hard to write lyrically. It’s really hard to be vulnerable when the story you’re telling is one that involves other people, and could potentially negatively impact them.
I had that one written over a year before we even started working on the record, but kept changing lyrics, and either making it more detailed or less, depending on how comfortable I was with other people hearing it.
“Pushing 33” was also a similar experience but for the opposite reason. I was incredibly angry writing that song and didn’t feel like everything that needed to be said could in just 3 minutes.
SPR: “Counting Clovers” deals with recognizing when love isn’t enough to sustain a relationship — was that written from real distance on the experience, or closer to it than the rest of the record?
Emily: Both? The specific situation happened over a year ago but the song was originally written in the moment. Some of the lyrics were changed because my opinion on the situation changed as I had time to distance myself and reflect.
I’m still incredibly close with the person the song is about and it’s interesting to talk to them now about the song.
Making waltzerr's sound
We have such a community in Seattle, both in and out of music, that it’s hard to not have that be core to our identity.
SPR: There’s a strong 90s Seattle alt-rock thread running through this record. How intentional was that, and who were you each listening to while making it?
Emily: I think it was intentional in the way that I listen to a lot of 90s alt rock and/or 90s alt rock inspired bands. A lot of my references were actually modern bands, but i’m sure their references were 90s alt rock bands too.
I was listening to a lot of Momma, Prewn, Greg Freeman, and Mercury at the time. but Yuck, Bam Bam, Smashing Pumpkins, and Metric were also big influences.
Anthony: A lot of Hayley Williams!
Schuyler: The Beths
SPR: Schuyler, your guitar tone on this record is doing a lot of the emotional heavy lifting — loud/quiet dynamics, layered distortion. What were you chasing tonally, and did anything change from your live setup for the studio?
Jesse & Schuyler: Live we go pretty bare bones with just two guitars. In studio we did a lot of fuzz layering and unconventional guitars! Guitar was primarily the acoustic guitar plugged into a 70’s Marshall super lead. 2 songs are banjitar through that same Marshall.
This whole record was a lot of weird, layered feedback. Lots of Jazzmaster bendy cleans through a jazz chorus.
SPR: How much does being a Seattle band, with everything that carries, feel like part of your identity versus just where you happen to live and play?
Emily: We have such a community in Seattle, both in and out of music, that it’s hard to not have that be core to our identity. We travel a lot for shows now, and some band members live out of state, but we will never not identify as a Seattle band.
What's next and what's recommended
SPR: Now that the debut’s out in the world, what does “better” look like for waltzerr in the next year — creatively, not just career-wise?
Emily: I want to explore more genres of music! I’ve been getting into both post-hardcore and folk a lot lately.
I’m not sure how that will influence the next record but i’m definitely okay branching out in sound. I’m honestly more scared of all of our songs sounding exactly the same.
If you love the music known as the “Seattle sound” and looking for something new, waltzerr delivers with Tomorrow Will Be Better.
You’ll hear it from the first song, “Throw a Bone” with the dirty, grungy guitar work that’s immediately contrasted with Emily’s silky smooth yet powerful vocal delivery.
Kudos to Jesse Field for his production work on this album. Guitars this heavy can easily drown out the vocals, and Emily is front-of-the-mix throughout.
Other standout tracks are “Ciggy B”, “Pushing 33” and “Radio Silence.”
Honestly though? Just press play on “Throw a Bone” and let it play through. Nothing here is worth skipping.
