Artist: Widowspeak
Album: All Yours
Release Date: September 4, 2015
Label: Captured Tracks
Artists often use their surroundings as inspiration.
It sounds like dream pop duo Widowspeak might have done just this with their new album All Yours. Their third record sounds as peacful as the idlyllic countryside of Catskills, New York that the band left Brooklyn for. Its unhurried pace, soft vocals, simple arrangements recall a lazy countryside summer day.
All Yours opens up with the dreamy title track. Layers of acoustic and electric guitars, organs and Molly Hamilton’s breathy vocals wash over you. “Narrows” comes next, a standout song on the album. Hamilton’s singing comes in tentatively until she hits the soaring chorus. Guitarist Robert Earl Thomas follows her vocal melody on his electric guitar. The lyrics on All Yours are relatable—the dream country “Girls” discusses the pitfalls of comparing yourself to others, something we all do. We also hear Thomas singing for the first time on “Borrowed World.”
The album is beautiful but it makes us miss the complex arrangements, dark soundscapes and psychedelic guitar licks of 2013’s Almanac. Almanac is a more engaging listen—one to recommend to Widowspeak first timers.
Despite minor shortcomings, All Yours is the perfect album to make you nostalgic for summertime.