After leaving Brooklyn, the band relocated in the mellower region of Hudson Valley and planned to take things as they came, instead of banging their heads against the wall to capture a specific sound. The duo’s new song, “Girls”, is on the contemplative side of things. Hamilton’s vocal melodies feel soothing rather than urgent and Robert Earl Thomas’ instrumental arrangements are more light-weight and pleasant than heart-stopping. It’s no wonder that two members of Woods are involved in Widowspeak’s recent material – think of their new songs as Jeremy Earl’s band and Real Estate having an enchanting and quiet baby.
Widowspeak’s new album “All Yours” is due 4th September and will mark their third album – and their first release since 2013’s EP The Swamps. A presumed back to basics record, laying down tracks on phones as voice memos and jamming late at night. Woods’ Aaron Neveu and Jarvis Taveniere are set to help the already established line-up of Hamilton and Thomas with steady bass lines and drum playing –see sweet and catchy title track “All Yours” – providing firm rhythmical foundations to the delicate melodies that have proved successful for the band over the years.
If “Girls” and “All Yours” are anything to go by, we can rightfully expect Widowspeak to deliver their most tender album to date. If you’re a sucker for delightful melodies and gentle guitar strumming, you may have a new favourite band.
Widowspeak is a dream pop/dream folk duo from somewhere in the Catskills Mountains. They’d been operating out of Brooklyn for a while, and had as many as four members at one time, but now it’s down to just Molly Hamilton (vocals/guitar) and Robert Earl Thomas (guitar). After the 2013 album Almanac, they headed for the mountains and took their time with the new record. They’ve been on Captured Tracks for a few years, and have released two full length albums and an EP since 2011. The band’s third long player —All Yours— will be released on September 4th via Captured Tracks, and the label and the PR firm have already begun a promotional push for the album. When people write about Widowspeak, it’s almost inevitable for there to be a reference to Mazzy Star. I’ve never really seen a connection, That said, it would be fair to say that Widowspeak is slightly psychedelic, dreamy folk music. And obviously, the same is said of Mazzy Star, and of Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions. This has been an extraordinary year for new releases, and I’m always busy listening to stuff. Even though I’ve got the Bully record, the SOAK record, and the Courtney Barnett record on infinite repeat at home and in the car, This full album has gotten several repeated listens in the ten days that I’ve had it, It’s a very good song that gets better with each repeated listen. “Girls” by Widowspeak
I’ll admit that part of what makes me think of Cowboy Junkies is the fact that there’s harmonica and some sort of lap steel guitar, but there are other things in the album that make me think, even vaguely, of Cowboy Junkies. In the last minute of the song, when it’s basically just drums and organ, there’s some trick going on with the drums. I don’t know the track is doubled, or if there’s some sort of delay or something applied to the drum track, but it has a really cool Beatles-esque sound to it. It’s worth mentioning that on the new album, they employed Jarvis Taveniere (bass) and Aaron Neveu (drums) to hold down the rhythm section. Taveniere also produced the new album as well as the first Widowspeak album. He and Neveu both play in the Brooklyn-based freak-folk band Woods. They haven’t yet opened the pre-sale for physical copies of the album, but make a bookmark for Captured Tracks, and keep checking back.
The Fat Angel Sings 