Hate to say we told you so -- in this case, that this new record from True Widow was going to be a big deal -- except, well, that's not true at all. We kind of revel in telling you so, actually.
So, yes, we indeed felt that nice, warm and comforting feeling of being right this morning, as we read over Pitchfork's take on True Widow's sophomore full-length and first for Kemado Records, As High As The Highest Heavens And From The Center To The Circumference Of The Earth. The tastemaking site gave the disc a respectable 7.4 rating on its 10-point scale, but it's in the text where the accolades from critic Nick Neyland truly shine through, like when he describes the band as one that has "complete mastery of control."
The sludge-like pace rarely abates, but there are variations in mood, principally in the lengthy "Boaz," which Phillips floods with light through a soaring vocal line that pulls the song out of its squalid origins. ... "Doomseer" ultimately embodies everything this band does so well, where those basic slowcore tenets-- raw emotion tightly mastered and boxed into a corner where it's antithetically filtered into barely restrained stoicism-- are given another welcome gasp of air.Neyland says some other things -- and maybe takesa something of a rightful swipe at the band's chosen "stonegaze" designation -- but, as for the record? Yes, we're welcoming it, for sure.
You should, too: Download a couple tracks off A.H.A.T.H.H.A.F.T.C.T.T.C.O.T.H. for free over at Brooklyn Vegan, then hit yourself in the head for missing the band's official CD release show this past Saturday night at the Double Wide. Next month, the band hits the road for a tour of the east coast in support of ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead and Surfer Blood.
