WIDOWSPEAK
SHARE NEW VIDEO FOR “SALT” – WATCH HERE
HEADLINE EU / UK TOUR TO TAKE PLACE NOV / DEC 2022
SIXTH STUDIO ALBUM THE JACKET OUT NOW VIA CAPTURED TRACKS
SELECT PRAISE FOR THE JACKET:
★★★★ – MOJO
★★★★ – Uncut
“Slender, gloriously wintry indie-folk” – The Times
“Everything Is Simple” added to C-list – BBC Radio 6 Music
“Everything Is Simple” included in “Selects”. – Pitchfork
“Everything Is Simple” named best song of 2022 (so far). – Gorilla Vs Bear
“one that encapsulates their myriad strengths” – CLASH
“The Jacket” named album of the week – Ticketmaster
“Possibly the band’s finest ever moment on record.” – Music OMH
“slick, soulful and effortlessly cool as ever” – The Skinny
“their mix of alt-country meets dream pop ticks a lot of boxes” – Daily Express
Earlier this year, Widowspeak shared their sixth studio album via Captured Tracks, which saw them earn plaudits across an array of media including BBC Radio 6 Music, The Times, MOJO, Uncut, Gorilla Vs Bear, PASTE, Brooklyn Vegan and more. Today, the band return with news of a full EU / UK tour to take place across Nov / Dec 2022.
In honour of the forthcoming tour dates, the duo has shared a new video for “Salt”, which was shot by previous video collaborator OTIUM, and sees them performing whilst walking by the waterside – WATCH HERE
Speaking on the single and video, the band says, “This was a one-take thing we did in the midst of making other videos in Phoenix; a little piece of the album’s story in a way. It was filmed behind the laundromat used in some scenes from the video for “The Jacket”. The song is about making peace with relationships ending, whether romantic, friendship, work… Or at least saying that eventually, you’ll be at peace with it, and recognizing that a little bit of resentment can come with seeing other people go off and be better without you, or try to be. In the context of the album, it’s the end of the fictional band. In any case, bad endings are a process and those bitter, salty feelings aren’t forever.”
Widowspeak’s EU / UK tour follows their extensive headline US tour which took place in Spring. Tickets are on sale now HERE. Full dates are as follows:
14/11/22 : Komedia Studio – Brighton (UK)
15/11/22 : Moth Club, Londen (UK)
16/11/22 : Hare & Hounds – Birmingham (UK)
17/11/22 : EBGB’s – Liverpool (UK)
19/11/22 : Mono – Glasgow (UK)
20/11/22 : Voodoo Rooms (Speakeasy) – Edinburgh (UK)
21/11/22 : Pop Recs – Sunderland (UK)
22/11/22 : YES (The Pink Room) – Manchester (UK)
23/11/22 : The Lousiana – Bristol (UK)
25/11/22 : Botanique – Brussel (B)
26/11/22 : Filter @ Trix – Antwerpen (B)
27/11/22 : Petit Bain – Paris (F)
28/11/22 : Paradiso – Amsterdam (NL)
29/11/22 : Db’s – Utrecht (NL)
30/11/22 : Vera – Groningen (NL)
01/12/22 : Aalhaus – Hamburg (D)
02/12/22 : Plan B – Malmö (S)
03/12/22 : Pustervik – Göteborg (S)
04/12/22 : John Dee – Oslo (N)
05/12/22 : Hus7 – Stockholm (S)
06/12/22 : Rust – Copenhagen (DK)
07/12/22 : Badehaus – Berlin (D)
08/12/22 : Cafe V Lese – Prague (CZ)
11/12/22 : Durer Kert – Budapest (HU)
13/12/22 : Bronson – Ravenna (I)
14/12/22 : La Claque – Genova (I)
15/12/22 : Bogen F – Zurich (CH)
16/12/22 : Heppel & Ettlich – Munich (D)
* = support from NIGHT SHOP
The Jacket started out with loose strings of a concept, a story about a fictional band:
A chain-stitcher working in the satin district of an unnamed city, a neighborhood of storefront tailors devoted to elaborate costumery for country-western, art rock, ye-ye cover bands that populate the street’s bars after dark. The narrator joins one such outfit, “Le Tex” and feels a sense of belonging and momentum, movement beyond what was previously a stable, predictable life. A relationship with a bandmate materializes. Eventually, the group start to write originals. They generate goodwill and momentum, and venture out on the open road seeking new opportunities beyond what the satin district can offer. But the vibrational energy that got things moving is the same that shakes the whole thing apart: the relationship, and the band, disintegrate upon finally reaching their destination, the end of the road. The chain-stitcher heads back to the city, settling back into the rhythm of work, old standards and a familiar place.
The story is self-referential on purpose: it speaks to the absurdity of ego, codependency and shared visions even as it celebrates them. The Jacket finds Widowspeak navigating these contradictions, and although its ten tracks now trace a more abstract arc than the campier initial concept, strands of that earlier narrative remain: “stitches in satin”, American cities after dark, glimpses of the open road, dark bars, and backstages where things get left behind. The resulting album is a wizened meditation on performance and past lives from a band who’ve seen their fair share, hitting their stride now over a decade in.
Written in the months before and after the release of their critically acclaimed 2020 album Plum, The Jacket feels like a full-circle moment for the duo. Thematically, it considers Plum’s broader questions about the values ascribed to one’s time and labor through the more refined lens of performance and music-making. This is due in part to the band’s recent return to New York City, the site of their own origin story, where they recorded The Jacket at the Diamond Mine with co-producer and noted Daptone Records affiliate Homer Steinweiss. In addition to Hamilton and Thomas on guitars, the album features founding drummer Michael Stasiak, as well as J.D. Sumner on bass, and piano and keyboard contributions from Michael Hess.
Sonically, The Jacket finds the band at their usual and best: the album breathes deeply, balancing moments of open lushness with a straightforward, Velvets-y approach. Dynamics shift seamlessly between gentle, drifting ballads and twangy jams, built up from layered guitars, dusty percussion and ambling bass lines. Elsewhere: whimsical flutes, choral textures, and basement organs. Thomas’s guitar playing is as lyrical and emotive as it’s ever been, and Hamilton’s voice: comfortable and effortless. This seamless dynamic is amplified perfectly in the mix by Chris Coady (Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Beach House). The band still wears the same perennial influences on its sleeve: cornerstones like Yo La Tengo, Neil Young, Cowboy Junkies, Cat Power, and Richard and Linda Thompson. They expertly pepper in slow-core, dream-pop, pacific northwest indie, and outlaw country, resulting in a 60s-meets-90s aesthetic. But the duo also wield their own aesthetic feedback loop as a tool of its own, a way to better tell multi-layered stories in their own RIYL language. This sense of sonic nostalgia adds another layer to lyrics that reflect on old selves, invented and true.
The Jacket is a present and comfortable record, imbued with a sense of collective pause and the ease of a band at the top of their game. For all its familiar textures, it still feels entirely fresh within that canon: proudly a guitar record, a rock record, a songwriter’s record. A Widowspeak record.
The Jacket Tracklist
1. While You Wait
2. Everything Is Simple
3. Salt
4. True Blue
5. The Jacket
6. Unwind
7. The Drive
8. Slow Dance
9. Forget It
10. Sleeper
Widowspeak Online
https://www.facebook.com/widowspeakband/
https://twitter.com/widowspeaking?s=20
https://www.instagram.com/widowspeaking/?hl=en
https://widowspeak.bandcamp.com/