Captured Tracks Records and the city of Brooklyn, NY that it calls home have become increasingly reliable in terms of churning out quality indie artists. This week, one of those artists, psych-folk group Widowspeak, released their sophomore album Almanac, which is an impressively cohesive collection of ghostly ethereal and dreamy songs that can both soothe and rock.
The album’s first four songs are its most unified, though each offers something new. “Perennials” announces the album with echoing guitars, breathy vocals, and outstanding tom work. “Dyed in the Wool” possesses a cool-as-ice, 70s-Fleetwood-Mac vibe before upbeat, snare-driven rocker “The Dark Age.” “Thick as Thieves” features a prominent bass line and a Celtic-folk-leaning, chant-like quality that moves the album into the title-track, which serves as a brief, transitional interlude.
Although the album remains distinctly cohesive following this segue, lead singer Molly Hamilton’s vocals become markedly more present on the one-two punch of “Ballad of the Golden Hour” and “Devil Knows,” two of the record’s most rocking songs. Her voice waxes again for “Sore Eyes,” as if shrouded in a mist, returns for “Locusts,” and drifts mystically away for the album’s final three songs. Against the backdrop of these unified songs, Hamilton’s voice acts as the centerpiece subject that a camera lens captures wavering in and out of focus. However, what is vital is its beautiful, mercurial quality present in either state.
Almanac is an album that grew on me with each listen, beginning slowly like a freight train commencing motion and building with a powerful churning. After it ceases to be overwhelming and it’s cohesive vision is realized, you’ll find Almanac rooted in your affections.
