“The Jacket” By Widowspeak

Widowspeak, recently their shared “The Jacket.” The song is title track off their forthcoming album, and will drop on March 11, 2022 via Captured Tracks. The song’s video, directed by OTIUM, features Robert Earl Thomas as a satin-clad protagonist making his way through a southwest cityscape in a series of vignettes both surreal and mundane. He carries a jacket with him while killing time, pressing his luck with a roll of the dice and curiously engaging with the world he encounters before running to escape it. Amidst the desert sunset, the jacket is forgotten and the dice buried: a swarm of ants where they once were.

Widowspeak on “The Jacket” – “The Jacket” is about things we choose, dress up in and adopt as symbols of who we are. Things that become objects loaded with meaning until we eventually lose or discard them, grow out of them. It’s a literal jacket in the song, and in the context of the storyline represents all the cliches (imagined and real) of being in a band, rock and roll, youth, projecting “cool” (or thinking you do), and believing in the power of symbols and costume to help find and define your true self. Eventually you move on from the moment, and the sorts of places and experiences and relationships tied to that time, when the jacket was your favorite thing in the world and felt like a part of you. It’s hard to let go. But you notice you aren’t that person anymore. The jacket, and everything it represented, was left behind somewhere along the way.

The Jacket was Written in the months before and after the release of their 2020 album Plum. This is due in part to the band’s recent return to New York City, the site of their own origin story, where they recorded The Jacket at the Diamond Mine with co-producer and Daptone Records affiliate Homer Steinweiss. In addition to Hamilton and Thomas on guitars, the album features founding drummer Michael Stasiak, as well as J.D. Sumner on bass, and piano and keyboard contributions from Michael Hess.

Widowspeak 2022 TOUR DATES

4.7.22 – New York, NY – Baby’s All Right
4.8.22 – Philadelphia, PA – Underground Arts
4.9.22 – Washington, DC – Jammin’ Java
4.10.22 – Richmond, VA – Richmond Music Hall
4.13.22 – Miami, FL – The Fillmore *
4.14.22 – Orlando, FL – Hard Rock Live *
4.15.22 – Athens, GA – Hendershots
4.16.22 – Atlanta, GA – Tabernacle *
4.17.22 – Atlanta, GA – Tabernacle *
4.19.22 – New Orleans, LA – d.b.a
4.20.22 – Houston, TX – White Oak Music Hall
4.21.22 – Austin, TX – Mohawk
4.22.22 – San Antonio, TX – Paper Tiger
4.23.22 – Ft Worth, TX – Tulips
4.25.22 – Albuquerque, NM – InsideOut
4.26.22 – Tucson, AZ – Groundworks
4.27.22 – Palm Springs, CA – Alibi
4.28.22 – Los Angeles, CA – Zebulon
4.29.22 – Santa Ana, CA – La Santa
4.30.22 – San Diego, CA – Soda Bar
5.2.22 – Sacramento, CA – The Starlet Room
5.3.22 – Santa Cruz, CA – The Atrium at The Catalyst
5.4.22 – Oakland, CA – Starline Social Club
5.6.22 – Portland, OR – Polaris Hall
5.7.22 – Seattle, WA – Belltown Bloom Festival
5.8.22 – Boise, ID – Neurolux
5.9.22 – Salt Lake City, UT – Hangar House
5.10.22 – Denver, CO – Globe Hall
5.12.22 – Des Monies, IA – xBk
5.14.22 – Chicago, IL – Beat Kitchen
5.15.22 – Cleveland, OH – Beachland Tavern