Patrick Watson – Peter and the Wolf

Patrick Watson’s latest single ‘Peter and the Wolf’ is less a song and more a nocturnal hallucination dressed as a lullaby. It opens like a fairy tale, then drifts somewhere darker, soaked in Louisiana humidity and shadows. Written after Watson lost his voice and thought it might never return, the track feels like a whispered secret shared between ghosts.

Inspired by midnight forests, New Orleans spirits, and a moment of eerie wonder watching a low-end car glide down a quiet street, ‘Peter and the Wolf’ blurs the line between dream and dread. The instrumentation is delicate but unsettling—piano and ambient textures create a world that feels suspended. You don’t get the feeling that the wolf ever shows up, but you’re pretty sure it’s watching you.

This song is one of the few solo pieces on Watson’s upcoming album ‘Uh Oh’, a record born during a personal low point. When Watson lost his voice, he wrote for others instead, curating a strange, global cast of guest vocalists. But ‘Peter and the Wolf’ is all him—a return of voice, but not to form. More like a soft warning from someone who’s seen too much silence.

It’s haunted, elegant, and gently terrifying. And that’s the point.