It’s safe to say that if you’ve made it to track number three, ‘Four Teeth’ without turning off the radio or hitting the ‘next’ button, then you’ll more than likely enjoy the rest that is to follow. Just what is to follow? Well, a whole lot of Sunday Summer driving music, stare-at-your-shoes tunes and *coughcough* songs.
The trio that is True Widow consists of singer/guitarist DH Phillips, singer/bassist Nicole Estill and drummer Slim TX. Those songs I mentioned earlier, well they’re pretty damn good. From the opening melancholic notes of ‘Creeper’ to the sorrow yet good time drenched waves of ‘Four Teeth’ and all the way to album closer ‘Lungr’ and its shoegaze repertoire. The mix of DH and Nicole’s voices is a great contrast when needed, and mixture when called upon as well. ‘Numb Hand’ is fuzzed out, but not beyond recognition. Slim keeps a steady beat throughout the entire album; he is as solid as they come. All together on the surface, Circumambulation seems fairly paint by the numbers. But it’s on repeat listens that the album will get stuck in your head. You’ll find yourself humming the guitars to ‘HW:R’ or even tapping your feet to the beat of ‘S:H:S’, hours after turning the record off. It’s infectious, and that’s the key to a good album. Songwriting over technicality, any and every day of the week.
There’s not much else to say about Circumambulation. It’s not a death metal record. It’s not a grind record. It IS, however, probably the, if not one of the, best rock albums you’ll hear this year. So go on, get up and go get it before the summer is over and you’re out of sunny day drives.
You can get True Widow’s Circumambulation world wide through Relapse Records on various digital formats, CD and vinyl. Support artists and musicians you enjoy. Go grab this album.
HAIL!!!
