Widowspeak played a gorgeous set at SPACE Bar on Friday, September 29th.
Widowspeak
Local band Soft Lions opened the show, playing songs from both of their EPs, XOXO and Spellbreaker. The garage rock group also played a couple new tracks that have yet to be recorded. Following Soft Lions, Clearance, on tour with Widowspeak played with a sound recalling 90s guitar groups like Pavement. Their live set was lively and even more fun to listen to than their recorded songs–always a sign of a good performer.
After a brief intermission, Widowspeak played. Inspired by dream pop and psych rock, Widowspeak is known for singer Molly Hamilton’s ethereal vocals and guitarist Robert Earl Thomas’ spacey riffs. So far the band has three albums, with Expect The Best (2017) as their most recent.
Most of their set consisted of songs from the new album as well as All Yours (2015). Their second track was an old favorite from one of their first albums, Almanac (2013), “Locust.” Hamilton and Thomas were backed by a drummer and bass player.
Throughout tracks like “All Yours,” “Dog,” and “When I Tried,” the band sounded tight and well rehearsed. You always expect the sound at a bar venue to sound off but it sounded perfect this night. I was impressed to hear Hamilton’s angelic voice so clearly and pitch perfect.
I expected the band to act somber like their music but they were friendly and chatty. The New York-based Hamilton, the only one with a mic, kept talking about how her curly hair was even curlier after a day at a San Diego beach. The rest of the band cracked jokes and seemed to be enjoying their time onstage.
Some of the audience called for an encore. However, everyone except Molly Hamilton walked off stage. After conferring briefly with one of her band mates, Hamilton announced “Well, I’m going to play you guys one more. The guys said ‘We’re done.'” She said she was a little nervous about playing by herself but she picked up her guitar once more and played a final song. She played beautifully except for chuckling once – probably at a mistake that no one could hear but her.