catalogue

WIDOWSPEAK

EXPECT THE BEST (CAPTURED TRACKS)

WIDOWSPEAK - EXPECT THE BEST 114188
format:
1 LPD
release:
25.08.2017
label:
CAPTURED TRACKS
item ID:
114188
barcode:
0817949013493
Seven years in, Widowspeak remain purveyors of mood. Existing in a sonic overlap of indie rock, dream pop, downtrodden shoegaze, slow-core and invented "cowboy grunge", Widowspeak use familiar aesthetics as a narrative device, a purposeful nostalgic backdrop for songs that ask, "How did we get here?" Expect the Best, their fourth for Brooklyn's Captured Tracks, sees Widowspeak finding balance between opposing forces: darkness / light, quiet / loud, tension / calm.

Moving around -- specifically the move back to the place where Hamilton grew up -- was the catalyst for a record concerned with self-examination and the sense of dread that comes from feeling adrift ("Dog").

Whether navigating anxieties in the digital age ("Expect the Best"), struggling for motivation ("When I Tried") or critiquing wanderlust and aspiration ("The Dream"), the songs here recognize you can't go back in time.

The band navigates dynamic changes with subtlety and restraint; the nine tracks brim with both wide-eyed optimism and resigned melancholy.

Their usual palette of dusty guitars and angular twang are still front and center, but now with a 90s homage, even if abstractly.

It's perhaps their heaviest record to date, but never loses the sense of intimacy Widowspeak is known for.
 
  • Tracklisting
  • 1.1. THE DREAM
  • 1.2. WHEN I TRIED
  • 1.3. DOG
  • 1.4. WARMER
  • 1.5. GOOD SPORT
  • 1.6. LET ME
  • 1.7. RIGHT ON
  • 1.8. EXPECT THE BEST
  • 1.9. FLY ON THE WALL