Widowspeak — All Yours (September 4, 2015)

             ^{Widowspeak — All Yours (September 4, 2015)} ♠   Widowspeak byla vždy kapelou, těžící z nepravděpodobného — to je něco, co jsem u nich vždycky miloval. Úvodní píseň alba “All Yours” není o příslušnosti k někomu — spíše, jak tito lidé mohou být náhle vytrženi ze svého obvyklého života do stavu, postrádajícího starý, domovský přístav s plyšovým pejskem, zaručujícím bezpečnost. Molly Hamilton zpívá o své bolesti malátným, avšak brilantním způsobem, naznačujícím, jak ona sama přijímá tyto ztráty s nadhledem. Dalším světlým bodem je kytarista Robert Earl Thomas se svým nepostradatelným sugestivním zvukem. Rob zbožňuje George Harrisona a Robbie Robertsona v jejich brilantně ekonomické hře na kytaru. Výsledkem je esteticky pestrý a hluboce nostalgický sound. Občas sametový hippie–rock, kde bydlí pocit částečného klidu v partnerství se stavem opuštěnosti. I když se jejich zasněný shoegaze změní na příjemnou zvukovou scenérii, je to místo, kde country hudba vždy nachází svou životaschopnost.
♠   Widowspeak = Mazzy Star + Fleetwood Mac. 10 tracků. Jarvis Taveniere, produkující již jejich debut, se vrátil a také přítomnost bubeníka jménem Aaron Neveu (Woods) přispívá tomu, že kapela vyrostla. Toto jejich třetí album je jako otevření ručně psaného dopisu od drahého přítele. Je to poměrně vzácný jev, že každá nová deska je stejnou bavlnkou a památnou jako ta předešlá, a ještě zvládá včlenit růst a nové zvuky. Po celou stopáž převládá svěží, slunný tón, jako protiklad k prašným, pochmurným texturám jejich předchozího EP, The Swamps. S extra příjemně bzučící kytarou a sametovým vokálem, z alba vychází kvintesenční pocit 70´. “Coke Bottle Green”, na albu devátá, má lahodnou Nirvana–unplugged syrovost; zatímco ze závěrečné “Hands” vyzařuje jemná naléhavost, znemožňující dokonce jen pomýšlet na stisknutí tlačítka STOP.
♠   Widowspeak  jsou jednou z těch kapel, které znějí, jako by byli hladce transplantovány z jiné doby. Toto album je vynikající ve své nejjemnější, nejvíce přetrvávající cestě písně k srdci a jeho melodie mají potenciál, aby se stejně vášnivou sílou byly zahrány živě. 
♠   Widowspeak's gorgeously languid tunes match its pace of creation, with songs like "Cosmically Aligned" drifting along like a less guitar–pedal heavy version of Mazzy Star in a country–waltz time. Members of the band Quilt help out throughout, as do the rhythm section of Woods, lending extra touches that make All Yours Widowspeak's most complete record to date.
♠   This Brooklyn trio makes dark, hazy music equally indebted to Mazzy Star and jangly Sarah Records–style indie pop. Location: Brooklyn, NY ~~ Catskills / Hudson Valley
Album release: September 4, 2015
Recording date: February, 2015 — May, 2015
Record Label: Captured Tracks
Duration:     44:52
Tracks:
01. All Yours      3:42
02. Narrows      4:12
03. Dead Love (So Still)      4:45
04. Stoned      3:11
05. Girls      6:14
06. Borrowed World      3:58
07. Cosmically Aligned      4:49
08. My Baby's Gonna Carry On      4:43
09. Coke Bottle Green      4:05
10. Hands      5:12
Highest tracks: My Baby's Gonna Carry On, Coke Bottle Green, Hands
Group members:
♠   Molly Hamilton
♠   Robert Earl Thomas
♠   Aaron Neveu
♠   Jarvis Taveniere
Album Themes: Autumn Introspection Nighttime
Credits:
♠   Al Carlson  Engineer, Mixing
♠   John Andrews Organ, Piano, Vocals
♠   Josh Bonati Mastering
♠   Shawn Brackbill Portraits
♠   Shane Butler Vocals
♠   Robert Earl Guitar, Harmonica, Vocals
♠   Andre Ganesbohm Cover Photo
♠   Molly Hamilton Art Direction, Design, Piano, Vocals
♠   Davey Jewell Engineer
♠   Rob Karpay Cello
♠   Ryan McCardle Art Direction, Design, Layout
♠   Willy Muse Vocals
♠   Aaron Neveu Drums, Percussion
♠   Anna Rochinski Vocals
♠   Jarvis Taveniere Bass, Engineer, Mixing, Producer
♠   Renata Zeiguer Violin
Editorial Reviews
♠   Widowspeak has grown up in a lot of ways. The band's third album, All Yours, is one that could only come from Molly Hamilton and Robert Earl Thomas: a honed and elegant interweaving of dream–pop and slowcore rock and roll, easygoing melodies and dusty, snaking guitars. It's also their finest release to date: ten beautiful songs that are refreshingly straightforward yet built from the same well–chosen and deftly–used tools the band has always worked with. All Yours is ambitious without feeling labored–over, anchored in the strengths of Widowspeak's consistent influences. There are those familiar Morricone–come–Verlaine guitar passages, moody and country–tinged instrumentation, watery tremolo, velvety stacked vocals. You can hear Molly's affection for The Cranberries and The Sundays in the wavering melodies of 'Dead Love' or 'Girls', and Rob's adoration of George Harrison and Robbie Robertson in his brilliantly economical guitar playing. The result is an aesthetically diverse and profoundly nostalgic sound; indebted to past eras without feeling dated. After many line up changes, the band chose to work again with Jarvis Taveniere, who produced their self–titled debut in 2011. They also enlisted him and drummer Aaron Neveu (both of whom play in Woods) as the studio rhythm section. The presence of Taveniere and Neveu contributes a groove that wasnít there previously, and there's a few other new things: the swell of strings at critical moments, and for the first time, voices beyond Molly's own. We finally get to hear Rob sing in the earnestly laid–back 'Borrowed World.' Members of psych outfit Quilt contribute harmonies and keys throughout the record, most notably in 'My Baby's Gonna Carry On', and 'Cosmically Aligned'. Perhaps All Yours is so refreshing because it's a return to form. It's a record that feels as effortlessly unplanned as their debut, that serves to capture a moment rather than create one.
AllMusic Review by Heather Phares;  Score: ****
♠   For Widowspeak, the years after the release of 2013's Almanac and the Swamps EP were marked by departures and returns: Molly Hamilton and Robert Earl Thomas left Brooklyn for the Catskills and reunited with Woods' Jarvis Taveniere, who produced their debut, when it was time to make All Yours. Using his gift for making any album he works on sound effortless, Taveniere helps them embrace Almanac's velvety country and classic rock even more fully and naturally, with results that sound more fresh–faced than theatrical. Compared to the duo's other albums, All Yours is downright restrained: "Hands" echoes the gentle drift of their debut even though it glides along on tasteful strings and keyboards instead of distorted guitars, while "Narrows" transforms the duo's lingering shoegaze impulses into shimmering drones. However, this pared–down approach makes room for Widowspeak's increasing twang to emerge even more confidently on the title track, as well as for more adventurous moves like "My Baby's Gonna Carry On," which uses '60s and '70s psych–rock trappings — a "Sunshine Superman" bassline, rippling Rhodes fills, and busy percussion — in ways that sound remarkably ungimmicky. All Yours also puts the spotlight on just how much Widowspeak's songwriting has grown over the years; "Coke Bottle Green" is a fascinating combination of traditional country and folk structure and 21st century domesticity ("I want windows I can fill/With any life I can't kill"). Like Fleetwood Mac, whose influence permeated Almanac, Hamilton and Thomas excel at setting heartbroken lyrics to addictively catchy melodies. All Yours is filled with painful memories lying just underneath its honeyed surface; "Dead Love (You're So Still)" cloaks frustration with an old flame in head–bobbing hooks. Hamilton sounds as sweet as ever on these barbed, ambivalent songs, whether she's lamenting a galaxy's worth of emotional distance on "Cosmically Aligned" or chasing a feeling as fleeting as a high on the gorgeous "Stoned." Nevertheless, her most thoughtful lyrics aren't about a lover, but her relationship to other, younger women: as she sings "Further from my wilder years/I get kinder to the younger girls" over guitars that burn like a grudge, "Girls" illustrates the dance between jealousy and affection simply and brilliantly. Moments like these make All Yours Widowspeak's most self–assured and vulnerable album yet.
Artist Biography by Heather Phares
♠   Playing dark, hazy music equally indebted to Mazzy Star's narcotic allure, country twang, and the jangle of Sarah Records–style indie pop, Widowspeak feature singer/songwriter Molly Hamilton and guitarist Robert Earl Thomas. The band's roots go back to Hamilton's time in the Tacoma, Washington music scene, where she and founding drummer Michael Stasiak contributed songs to a compilation label before heading to New York. The pair brought Thomas into the fold in summer 2010, and in the autumn of that year the trio used a laptop microphone and GarageBand to craft a six–song cassette dubbed The October Tape. Captured Tracks signed Widowspeak and issued the band's debut single, Harsh Realm, in March 2011; the Gun Shy single — which featured a cover of Chris Isaak's "Wicked Game" — followed in June.
♠   Meanwhile, Widowspeak recorded with Woods' Jarvis Taveniere, and released their self–titled debut in August 2011. Stasiak departed the band after Widowspeak finished touring in support of the album. For 2013's Almanac, Hamilton and Thomas worked with Kevin McMahon to highlight the folky and Fleetwood Mac–like elements of their sound. Late that year, Widowspeak released the Swamps EP, which they described as a bridge between their previous work and their upcoming material. Shortly after those releases, Hamilton and Thomas relocated to New York's Hudson Valley region. The duo reunited with Taveniere on 2015's All Yours, which featured Woods drummer Aaron Neveu and delved deeper into Almanac's velvety country and classic rock leanings. ♠   http://www.allmusic.com/
Review
Eric J. Lawrence
♠   However mythologically epic the life of the "rock star" might be, the actual truth can be a lot more prosaic. In the case of Widowspeak, after their drummer left in 2012, life marched on. The remaining duo finished up a couple of records in 2013 while living in Brooklyn, then left for a quieter life in the bucolic Hudson Valley, where Molly went back to school and Rob started working at a local hotel. But the music was, by no means, silenced. Just allowed to happen in its own time.
♠   Thankfully, that time is now, as their new album, All Yours, is released by acclaimed label Captured Tracks on 9/4. Widowspeak's gorgeously languid tunes match its pace of creation, with songs like "Cosmically Aligned" drifting along like a less guitar–pedal heavy version of Mazzy Star in a country–waltz time. Members of the band Quilt help out throughout, as do the rhythm section of Woods, lending extra touches that make All Yours Widowspeak's most complete record to date. So kick back, imagine yourself out on the porch amongst the green Catskills and enjoy a great new record! ♠   http://www.kcrw.com/
Also:
BY KIA MCGINNI, Posted September 3, 2015
♠   http://www.slugmag.com/national-music-reviews/widowspeak-all-yours/
Bernie Burke
♠   http://www.drunkenwerewolf.com/reviews/widowspeak-all-yours/
Label: http://www.capturedtracks.com/
Discography:
♠   2011  Widowspeak     Captured Tracks
♠   2013  Almanac     Captured Tracks
♠   2013  The Swamps EP      Captured Tracks
♠   2015  All Yours     Captured Tracks
Lyrics All Yours:
I stopped looking for you
I stopped looking for you
And the places I won't go to
Cause they're all yours
They're all yours
They're all yours
And I was once all yours
They're all yours
They're all yours
They're all yours
And I was once all yours
Too
Too
Too
Too
There was something else on your mind
There was someone else on your mind
And fell behind
They're all yours
They're all yours
They're all yours
And I was once all yours
They're all yours
They're all yours
They're all yours
And I was once all yours
Too
Too
Too
Too
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Widowspeak — All Yours (September 4, 2015)

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