Cool Band Alert - Widemouth

A little bit softer now.

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Name: Widemouth
From: Chicago, IL
Members: Mak Carnahan (Vocals, Guitars), Jamie Eder (Vocals, Guitars), Lily Mitchell (Drums), Pat Pilch (Bass)
RIYL: Low, Ida, Galaxie 500, Bedhead, The Innocence Mission, early Julien Baker
The Gist: Gentle songs that drift quietly between country and slowcore.

Play No Gasoline, the debut album from Chicago group Widemouth, at top volume and you’ll still be able to hear a pin drop. The quartet says the quiet part quietly, making each of these 12 songs feel achingly secretive. The album’s strongest moments are its most pared back. Tracks like the elegiac “The Wind” and the shuffling “Transformers” allow Mak Carnahan and Jamie Eder’s cottony vocals to intertwine, like two threads woven into a soft strand of yarn. Both songs increase in volume as they near their conclusion, allowing the guitars to surrender to a touch of echo and distortion seconds before the fade-out. The country-leaning moments are just as subdued: “You & Your Girlfriend” operates at a slow sway, Eder and Carnahan swapping verses conspiratorially over rustic guitar. The sense of intimacy is only heightened by the lyrics’ specificity; the songs are peppered with peoples’ names—Jack, who got sick; Isa, who’s sitting on the counter—and recount stories that are etched with details that feel too real to be invented. It’s a scrapbook of private memories, opened briefly and gingerly to the world.

No Gasoline is out May 29th on Urban Scandal Records. Pre-order it.

Dig this record and want more like it?

Widemouth aren’t really country, more “country-adjacent,” and you can find more country-adjacent music (as well as just regular old country) in our monthly roundup. They’re also quite slowcore, and if you want to bone up on your history, we’ve got a primer for you to check out. The label Fluff & Gravy does a good job of expanding the definition of Americana, and a whole bunch of other artists are reviving the “chamber folk” template for a new era.

Listening Party Picks, May 28th - June 3rd

Come hang in the chat with artists celebrating their record release this week on Bandcamp.

May 28, NOIR for Breath & Taxes. RSVP.
May 28, Defiled for Altered State. RSVP.
May 28, Isiliel for Todeshochzeit. RSVP.
May 28, Tomotsugu Nakamura & David Cordero for Aware. RSVP.
May 28, Yazz Ahmed for Shinrin-Yoku. RSVP.
May 29, BILLY ᛟ ODAL for And The Search For Agartha • Part III. RSVP.
May 29, Greg Mendez for Beauty Land. RSVP.
May 29, MIA (Not M.I.A. Thankfully.—ed.) for In the Moonlight. RSVP.
May 29, Volker Lankow for The Clouds Above Us. RSVP.
May 31, Mica Miller for A Little Bit of Me. RSVP.
May 31, Galán | Spieth | Guentner for Obreel. RSVP.
June 2, Skydiggers for West Montrose. RSVP.
June 3, Widowspeak for Roses. RSVP.

To see the full calendar, go here.