Widowspeak
Schedule
Thu, 30 Jul, 2026 at 07:00 pm
UTC-07:00Location
Barboza | Seattle, WA
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Barboza Presents WIDOWSPEAK
Dead Gowns
THU, 30 JUL 2026 at 07:00PM PDT
Ages: 21 & Over
Doors Open: 07:00PM
OnSale: Fri, 20 Mar 2026 at 10:00AM PDT
Announcement: Wed, 18 Mar 2026 at 07:00AM PDT
An album called “Roses”would be concerned with romantic gestures. Across the ten tracks that make up
the seventh and newest Widowspeak record, intimate spaces and stages of love are captured with a nostalgic, vaseline-
coated lens. Candles burn inside red glass as lovers get close in a leather booth.
Celebrity headshots gaze down like angels in a restaurant. Elsewhere, carnations are pressed in a black
book and dancers pull each other close. Widowspeak is a band that riffs on big emotions without being too self-
serious. The sweetness, even silliness, of an extended limerent phase that becomes as all-
consuming as a pulpy trade paperback. Cars and their drivers serve as a way to talk about
codependency. And old love gets worn in, soft as an old t-shirt. If music can simultaneously be
naturalistic and noir, saturated and lush, that is Widowspeak. They’re a band that knows how to set a
scene.
These songs use intimate moments to talk about deeper heartaches: the restlessness inherent in modern
existence, waiting around for something to happen. Or, feeling at odds with playing a role in your own life.
“Roses” might be the most romantic Widowspeak record, but it’s also the most deeply realist: the stage is
set not with dramatic overtures but the backdrop of the minutiae and repetition of daily acts. Small
observations before, during, and after work: the ritual of pouring water for customers, catching a cold on
your day off. Daydreaming about winning the lottery, or maybe realizing you already won. Here, love is a
way to talk about what drives us, and Widowspeak suggest it can be the whole point. The light that
illuminates the dark corners of a day, a life. A reason to keep going despite the pain it can cause. As the
title track goes:
Not all thorns will prick you, you still feel the
first. And now you don’t grow roses because
the one still hurts... I want to be the one.
Widowspeak are one of the most prolific and hardworking bands going, bubbling just under the surface.
Molly Hamilton and Robert Earl Thomas are the core of the group and its songwriters, and they have
honed their sound across sixteen years and an impressively consistent catalog. A lot has happened in
that time: for them, for everyone. One of many bands to crop up in a fertile New York City music scene,
they started out shuffling gear between venues now-since shuttered (Glasslands, Cake Shop, 285 Kent,
Death By Audio to name a few) and their practice space in Monster Island Basement (now a Trader
Joe’s). The highs and lows of a long career mean chaotic stints as road dogs traipsing across North
America, fly-in gigs to São Paulo or Guadalajara, wrapping seven-week European tours... And then
down-time of years in between, considering the power of slowly building a body of work. Widowspeak is
now a married couple, working day jobs in their own off-season. Robert is a carpenter, Molly a waitress.
Maybe time has given Widowspeak the ability to grow slowly; “Roses” is unpruned and more beautiful for
it; left a little wild as it stretches its new growth in all directions. From the opening chords of “The Hook”
you can hear how far they’ve come: the road is open, the sky clears. The band feels at ease, and taking
their time. They recorded the album last January at the Old Carpet Factory on the Greek island Hydra: a
studio in an old house tucked into the village’s steep hills. It’s quiet there in winter, when the tourists have
all gone home. Longtime touring members Willy Muse, John Andrews, and Noah Bond serve here as the
players. “Roses” was then taken home and slowly, lightly tinkered with, before being deftly mixed by Alex
Farrar at Drop of Sun Studios, and mastered by Greg Obis at Chicago Mastering.
“Roses” is Widowspeak at its best, drawing on forever influences. There’s dream and power pop, a little
Stones, maybe some Petty, open and languid ballads with the twang of a Lynchian roadhouse band...
Perhaps you hear REM, Yo La Tengo or Cat Power. A little Neil Young in Hamilton’s references to
working at the diner. The magic of the band is, still and always, the interplay between Molly and Robert in
their two leading roles: her languid, textured voice and his visceral guitar playing. And as producer,
Robert captures the ephemeral magic of a band finding a song in the studio: something that still bears
traces of the directness of Molly’s voice memos and the dense guitar tapestries of the demos. The rough-
hewn marks of the tools are still evident, the noise kept in.
“Can’t hold too tight or I’ll have nothing, Like a candy melts in your hand.” As the album closer
“Hourglass” contemplates the fleeting nature of something, anything, it illustrates what is most true about
Widowspeak. At the heart of it, their music is special because it is real: most of all for the people making
it. Fragile and temporary, and worthwhile... like love itself.
Accessibility Disclaimer: Barboza is not wheelchair accessible.
Important Information:
* This event is 21 & over. Valid ID is required. Minors will not be permitted entry.
* Doors open at the listed event time.
* Event start time is generally one hour after doors open but is subject to change without notice.
* All tickets are nonrefundable with the exception of event cancellation.
* Support acts are subject to change.
* Orders in violation of the published ticket limit are subject to cancellation without notice.
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Where is it happening?
Barboza, 925 E Pike St,Seattle, Washington, United StatesEvent Location & Nearby Stays:
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