Widowspeak announce seventh album, Roses

2 days ago 4

Roses follows Widowspeak's 2022 album The Jacket, with "If You Change" arriving as the first preview of a collection of songs which capture the pair's timeless quality. While working on "If You Change", singer Molly Hamilton “thought about the fear of change, and when things (situations, objects) feel stuck in time because of a fear of ruining them," she says. "You always hear 'mint condition' as though it is as an asset, but it also means that thing hasn’t been used, lived with, loved. It never gets to fulfill its destiny.”

The single is also accompanied by a music video, of which Hamilton adds: “Incidentally one of my favorite childhood books is 'The Velveteen Rabbit' and growing up we had this VHS copy of Meryl Streep reading it over Ken Burns-esque slow-panned illustrations. It’s sort of burned into my mind. Even now, I can hear her voice saying 'I am real!' My sister ended up getting me a copy of it on vinyl, which is incredible. Maybe I’ve also been thinking about it more now because we have a board book version we read to the baby. But, the point of the story is that only through being loved can something become “real”... and that’s sort of how the video came to be what it is.”

Roses was recorded last January at the Old Carpet Factory on the Greek island Hydra. It features touring members Willy Muse, John Andrews, and Noah Bond, with Alex Farrar at Drop of Sun Studios and Greg Obis at Chicago Mastering on mastering. The ten tracks see Hamilton's vocals and Robert Earl Thomas' guitar playing come together to create a dream and power-pop sound, citing the likes of REM, Yo La Tengo and Cat Power.