Dear Mr. Watterson

     “Dear Mr. Watterson” is a newly released documentary exploring the cultural impact that the popular comic strip Calvin and Hobbes and its creator, Bill Watterson, had on the world. We Were Pirates, the musical pseudonym of DC-area native and multi-instrumentalist Mike Boggs, was chosen to be the sole provider of the film’s soundtrack.

     We Were Pirates has been putting out music since 2008 and has had his music featured on the public radio program This American Life as well as on MTV’s “The Real World: DC.” “Dear Mr. Watterson,” however, is his first strictly instrumental album.

     The soundtrack is made up of 14 original, instrumental songs that were created specifically for the film. As an added bonus, there are three extra songs thrown on the end of the album. These include an alternate version of “A Bit of a Troublemaker” as well as a vocal and instrumental version of “Don’t Forget,” a song that first appeared on We Were Pirates’ debut release, “Cutting Ties,” which is also featured in the film.

     Much like Calvin and Hobbes, the soundtrack does an excellent job at capturing both a feeling of happy-go-lucky innocence while also adding a slight introspective undertone to the mix.

     “Sunday Paper” starts the album off on a playfully upbeat note, reminiscent of something you might have found on the “Where the Wild Things Are” soundtrack.

     The aptly titled “A Boy & His Tiger” comes up next and slows things down a bit with a gentle acoustic guitar accompanied by a simple melody coming from the keyboard as well as drum work focusing mainly on the cymbals and toms.  

     The third track, “A Bit of a Troublemaker,” takes listeners back to the playground of their minds. The song opens up with whistling, a funky drum beat infused with maracas, and both acoustic and electric guitars intertwining with one another to come together as perfect music for day-dreaming.

     On average, most of the songs hang around the two-minute mark, with the exception of a couple longer tracks such as “Into Thin Air,” which provides listeners with just over five minutes of aural Xanax, and the aforementioned “A Bit of a Troublemaker.”

     The “Dear Mr. Watterson” soundtrack boasts the same sound that helped to achieve We Were Pirates’ current level of success in the indie-music scene. This soundtrack will make WWP fans happy and will likely have viewers of the documentary looking up the soundtrack online to find out exactly who We Were Pirates is and how they can get more of the music.

     “Dear Mr. Watterson,” the film, is currently going around the film festival circuit. The film premiered at the Cleveland International Film Festival on Apr. 9, the same day that the soundtrack was made available via iTunes, Amazon mp3 and Bandcamp. The album is also available for free preview online through Spotify and Soundcloud. Once the film’s producers are done showing their final product at festivals, they plan to make the film available on DVD and Blu-ray.

     Find out more about We Were Pirates on www.wewerepiratesmusic.com and the film, “Dear Mr. Watterson,” at www.dearmrwatterson.com. 

To listen to the entire album for free right now, you can click the link below.
https://soundcloud.com/wewerepirates/sets/dearmrwatterson