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Widowspeak [US] + Support: Laena Myers [US]

  • Spillestedet Stengade 18 Stengade København, 2200 Denmark (map)

Det bliver en drømmende indie rock aften pebret med slow-core, dream-pop, stillehavsnordvestlige indie og outlaw country, hvilket resulterer i en 60'er-møder-90'er-æstetik.

“Molly Hamilton and Robert Earl Thomas strike a perfect balance of plaintive beauty and firebrand rock ‘n’ roll.” – Stereogum

Widowspeak:

Widowspeak remain purveyors of mood. Whether speaking plainly to the mundane details of modern life, dealing in heartbreak and hooks, or conjuring the sweeping openness of a wide angle landscape, they’re a band ever-concerned with the influence of place and the passage of time on personal experience: the way vivid memories can feel like movies or dreams. Anchored by the creative partnership of singer-songwriter Molly Hamilton and guitarist Robert Earl Thomas, Widowspeak in essence operates as a duo: the two write songs with ear-wormy choruses and big guitar chords, supported by warm and expansive arrangements. But they record (and tour) as a full band.

On stage the dynamics shift seamlessly between drifting ballads and reverb-laden walls of sound, all with a humble and laid-back, Velvets-y approach. Hamilton’s delicate voice and Thomas’s adept guitar playing trade space as lead, amid dusty percussion and ambling bass and piano lines. To see Widowspeak live is to find the band at their usual and best: striking a masterful and cathartic balance between wide-eyed sweetness and resigned melancholy.

The band was formed in 2010 in New York City, born from a fertile music scene then-centered in the DIY venues and warehouse practice spaces of north Brooklyn. Soon after their first few shows, the band was signed to local indie label Captured Tracks, and made a home for itself among like-minded acts such as DIIV, Wild Nothing, Beach Fossils, Blouse, and Mac DeMarco, and alongside the shoegaze, pop and rarities reissues the label is known for. Since then, across six beloved albums and years of touring, Widowspeak have steadily honed their craft. Each entry to their catalog has marked a subtle reimagining of the band’s sound, though some points of reference remain the same: 90’s dream pop, 60’s psych rock, a certain unshakeable Pacific-Northwestness.

The band’s ability to build worlds is apparent across their catalog: the jangly, unpolished honesty of their 2011 self-titled debut; the bucolic, big-mood folk-rock of “Almanac” (2013); the lush and loose country-tinged “All Yours (2015). 2017’s “Expect the Best” found them exploring the darker side of their sound with hazy walls of sound, while 2020’s “Plum” reached back toward the light with hooks galore and a deeply comfortable approach. With 2022’s “The Jacket” (their most recent release), the band trace a loose concept: a fictional rock and roll band’s rise and fall. These songs paint a picture of the dark bars and rock clubs they were imagined for just as much as the bedrooms where they were written. For all its familiar textures, it still feels entirely fresh within their canon: proudly a guitar record, a rock record, a songwriter’s record. A Widowspeak record: imbued with a sense of collective pause and the ease of a band at the top of their game.

https://www.facebook.com/widowspeakband

https://www.widowspeakforever.com/

https://open.spotify.com/artist/5ZW7HlSuZz8ng2X21cXbdP?si=ocFgSrtuRb-mZ6hkt9YWIw

+ Support: Laena Myers

Laena Myers’ experimental punk background of guitar-based songwriting merges with her classical roots and love for singing ballads, leading to a depth of emotion that cuts to the heart of even the most hardened.

LUV (Songs of Yesterday) may be her debut album as a solo artist, but Laena Myers (FKA Laena Geronimo and Laena Myers-Ionita) is no stranger to the music world. Aside from contributing violin, bass guitar, and vocals to countless recordings and live performances as a supportive player to other artists in the Los Angeles music scene (you can find her discography at Laenasounds.com), she also led her own critically acclaimed and internationally touring band FEELS until their final shows in 2022. Although a self-proclaimed “shy introvert,” Laena and her band became known for instigating a high-energy version of an emotionally cathartic experience; as a songwriter, however, Laena continued to also write dreamier and more vulnerable material that had no place at a head banger’s ball. Out this February, LUV (Songs Of Yesterday) is a collection of these songs- the tender cherries picked over the course of a decade, written purely from a place of honest expression and filled with texture, depth and meaning.

Live, Laena performs with varying accompaniment but most consistently is joined by guitarist/bassist Cole Berliner, playing songs off of her upcoming release interwoven with improvised violin, guitar loops and spoken word.

Laena Myers’ music is the Los Angeles sound we don’t get to hear very often, one that is birthed in the hidden places — unbearably hot bedrooms, caves, not-so-fancy neighborhoods, as well as the hidden places within the artist herself. It is unfiltered but well-crafted, portraying an evocative singer, talented musician, and compelling writer that invites us to come closer and dig deeper.

https://open.spotify.com/artist/37O5LmgUKQI6Pm0DTNMdNZ?si=0iUW_lhPRIKhFWzvDwUuQw
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Entry: 150 kr in pre-sale / 170 kr at the door!
Pre-Sale: https://bit.ly/4a9zzA3