Widemouth – “Raincoat”

This is a strictly neutral observation: Chicago's Widemouth are one of least countrified alt-country bands I've yet encountered. "No Gasoline," the title track from their debut album, is more like a Phoebe Bridgers ballad. That song was great, and so is the band's new single out today.

After hearing "Raincoat," it's no surprise this band got its start playing Big Thief covers. In the track's YouTube caption, Widemouth self-describe as "a hot little indie band from Chicago," which makes a lot more sense to me than the country designation. The vocal interaction between Jamie Eder and Mak Carnahan is quite pleasing here, as is the interplay between the steady banjo riff and a pedal steel that seems to be gorgeously ascending to heaven.

"Mak and I wrote this song together over Facetime and refused to hang up until we had a complete chorus," Eder says. "Most of the lyrics are about dissociation I was feeling after coming home from college," Carnahan adds. Listen below.

No Gasoline is out 5/29 via Urban Scandal Records.