Bay Area rock trio Sour Widows are back with their first new material of the year, “Witness.” Produced by Maryam Qudus (Toro y Moi, SASAMI), the song follows the band’s acclaimed Crossing Over, one of Paste’s favorite EPs of 2021.
“Witness” is a patient, poignant slowcore track that explores the murky depths of loss and pain. Sour Widows—Maia Sinaiko, Susanna Thomson and Max Edelman—move through grief’s disparate emotional spaces, from steely resolve (“I’ve had practice / I can let things die”) to overwhelming heartache (“My heart beating / Like a fist against the veil”) and a sense of insignificance—as if dwarfed by the enormity of life and death, and the inexorability of time (“The moments repeat / and feedback into and endlessly”). All the while, their dynamic rock fortifies these feelings, peaking as Sinaiko and Thomson vocalize together, then finding a gentler form in its home stretch, like the clear skies after a storm has blown through.
“This is the first song we finished since I lost my mom in June 2021,” Thomson says of the song in a statement. “When we started playing together again last fall after being on hiatus for several months because of my mom’s illness, I was feeling easily overwhelmed by most things, and playing and writing were very difficult. Returning to this existing instrumental we had written together before everything in my life changed felt comforting and supportive. Monumental loss creates a very clear divide between those in your life who can understand the depth of that kind of pain and those who can’t. ‘Witness’ speaks to that experience.”
The “intuitive and empathetic writing process behind ‘Witness’ is representative of the band’s creative approach for their forthcoming debut full-length album,” a press release notes.
Listen to “Witness” and revisit Sour Widows’ 2022 Paste session below. You’ll find their upcoming tour dates further down.
Sour Widows Tour Dates:
July
29 – Oakland, CA @ Eli’s Mile High Club ^
August
05 – Los Angeles, CA @ Silver Lake Lounge ~
September
08 – Burlington, VT @ Radio Bean
10 – Providence, RI @ Holiday Inn
13 – Boston, MA @ O’Briens *
14 – Brooklyn, NY @ Trans-Pecos *
15 – Philadelphia, PA @ Ukie Club *
17 – Richmond, VA @ Gallery5 *
18 – Baltimore, MD @ Joe Squared *
(^ w/ Olivia Kaplan & Diners)
(~ w/ Olivia Kaplan & Fime)
(* w/ Living Hour)
