Album Review: Widowspeak Teach You How To Truly “Expect The Best”
“How did we get here?” seems to be one of the biggest questions for any person in crisis. How did I get to this moment where I feel either completely helpless or on top of the world? Where I feel like there are no options in my life or feel bombarded by the many?Where I feel like love has taken over my life or has walked out the door on a permanent vacation? As you can see, “How did we get here?” is the titular question to every person who does not recognize the thread of their life, in terms, of choices and consequence. This question is also central to Wisdowspeak’s new album, Expect The Best.
Lead singer Molly Hamilton wrote Expect The Best with the idea of letting herself feel bad or, at least, not believing the ”myth” we are told in saying, “Everything is okay”, in the hopes that it actually becomes it. Sure we can all be negative, but we can also be in denial, and tracks like “Let Me”, “When I Tried”, and “Good Sport” are all guidebooks on what is the difference. Negativity is when you see even the good as bad, but denial is when you will not look at the bad, at all. Hence, Expect The Best has a quiet awakening vibe; like someone who is starting ti stir from a long sleep but is having a hard time opening their eyes in the newfound daylight. “The Dream”, “Fly On The Wall” and “Warmer” feel wrapped by layered lyrics in the same way a butterfly is once wrapped by it cocoon. For Hamilton, if denial once felt like protection, now it fees like her prison, and she breaks free with a voice that sounds as cool, calm, and strikingly quiet as a long, desert road. The way she makes you think upon her words is as potent as when silence makes you think upon your thoughts; suddenly the change/ tranquilizing of pace and ambiance pushes you to be “inward” in your thoughts and feelings. Thus, atmospherically and sonically, Widowspeak succeed in matching their emotional purposes with their music one: self- reflection.
From social media to struggles with burgeoning anxiety over unmet ambitions, Expect The Best goes into every problem/ thing we want to deny and the things we use to distract from them. Yet, Widowspeak are not just purveyors of mood through words, the way they fuzz their chords, to always seem dreamy, makes each song feel like a slow bake from the sun; you can see the bread of your heart slowly rise from guitar melodies that feel warmed before delivered. I love how Expect The Best truly feels sonically paced and prompted to be a drawn analysis on a human’s search to better her life by learning how to face it. For More Information On Widowspeak And To Buy Expect The Best On August 25 Click Here.
