Almanac, the second full-length from Brooklyn band Widowspeak, opens with cascading guitar lines you could listen to on loop all night long. Molly Hamilton’s waifish vocals float down between the heavy drums, getting listeners primed for more, more, more. Still drawing a striking resemblance to beloved ’90s legends Mazzy Star, Widowspeak seems to be venturing out from under that shadow. The guitars, courtesy of Robert Earl Thomas, are more aggressive, even launching into solos on songs like “The Dark Age.” On “Sore Eyes,” those same instruments turn sinister as Hamilton pleads, “Let me rest my sore eyes.” The tempos are up and the melancholy levels are down from their self-titled debut, with everything coming together for 12 tracks that are more mood-lifting than mood-altering. Though album closer “Storm King” begins, “When we forgot, all we had known / How the west was won, how the seeds were sown,” it’s clear that Widowspeak hasn’t forgotten what came before, but instead has built upon a solid foundation.
Here are Windowspeak’s upcoming shows in 2013:
Music Hall of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY — February 15, 2013
Sandbar Cantina, Dallas, TX — March 17, 2013
Treefort Music Fest, Boise, ID — March 21-24, 2013
Sonic, Lyon, France — April 26, 2013
Widowspeak | Almanac, $12.84, amazon.com
By Melynda Fuller
This review appears in the Feb/Mar 2013 issue of BUST Magazine with Jason Schwartzman. Subscribe now.
