The Jacket is the title track and third single plucked from their 6th studio album to be released on March 11th on Captured Track Records, previously home to the likes of Beach Fossil and Mac Demarco to name but a few. In this 5 minute track, Widowspeak build upon chord progressions and melodic lead guitar lines which carrying themselves in a lyrical manner, leaving us wanting more. The pair have crafted their own genre, mixing 60’s mid-western with 90s dream pop and this single see’s them delve further into this new world.
The Jacket is set alongside a timeless music video which shows the protagonist played by guitarist Robert Earl Thomas, moving through city locations and desert highways making decisions by rolling a pair of dice. Directed by OTIUM, this is more like a short film than a music video, only enhancing the feelings of mundane activities and lost feelings set in tones that Wes Anderson would feel at home in.
The band say “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 10 track album was recorded in New York at Diamond Mine with co-producer Homer Steinweiss (Fleet Foxes, Lianne La Havas & Sylvan Esso) and was mixed by Chris Coady (Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Beach House). The Jacket consists of twangy guitars juxtaposed with effortless vocals from Molly Hamilton which hold our attention only closer. The dynamics flow gently between sections and carry us through textures and layered soundscapes to lead us into the calming world of Widowspeak.
