[short review + video] Widowspeak @ Great Scott 09.19.11

The reason the other night's VIVIAN GIRLS show was lousy with Phoenix music writers? That would be LIZ PELLY's one-woman campaign to get everyone in the office (and perhaps the world?) to listen to the WIDOWSPEAK album. (Now we're paying it forward: stream the whole thing below, and see if you can guess which song they wrote about driving to their last Boston gig). It worked: the record has taken up permanent residence in the Spotify queues and mp3 players of half the newsroom. At other publications, the trio's ginger frontwoman Molly Hamilton has been collecting endless comparisons to Mazzy Star's Hope Sandoval -- deserved -- but last night, couldn't help noticing Hamilton's resemblance to that other Molly -- Ringwald, circa 16 Candles. Her "In the Pines" (see video above, not ours) has nothing to do with Kurt's or Leadbelly's but still manages to be equally as personal and desolate and haunting. 

Here's a shocker: Widowspeak live sound pretty much exactly like their record. Meaning: awesome. And if you didn't already know they'd covered Chris Isaak's "Wicked Game" as a B-side, their dropping of that track in mid-set was a deal-sealer. (Also, better than the chill-wave version: you heard it here first.)

P.S.: Children of indie: please go rent Wild at Heart.