Photo by Dale Eisinger

"Wicked Game" by Widowspeak

"Harsh Realm" by Widowspeak

New music from Brooklyn-via-Tacoma band Widowspeak: the "Gun Shy" 7-inch, which includes a cover of Chris Isaak's "Wicked Game." It follows the "Harsh Realm" 7-inch, which follows the "Widowspeak" EP — which is sadly no longer available for free download.

I've been really feeling Widowspeak's drifty/wasted take on Americana. There's a lot of guitar-centric roots-ish music going around lately, and for whatever reason I prefer bands who are more ghostly and aloof with it, rather than wide-eyed and overtly sentimental. Widowspeak is the former, and to me right on time, what the game's been missing.

Molly from Widowspeak replied to an email recently, and wrote about the current Tacoma wave in NYC — something that has the Tacoma School of the Arts behind it. I had asked about the post-noiR&B band (and Matson on Music favorite) Vacation:

regarding vacation, we definitley love that band. all three of those guys are incredibly talented, and are so killer live. paul's such a charismatic frontman, and his voice has gotten really distinctive and powerful. the most recent show we played with them and oberhofer was awesome; three bands from tacoma. definitely don't get to see that in brooklyn ever. we were all feeling proud of our hometown. tacoma is important.