True Widow is an American rock band formed in 2007 and based in
Dallas
Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...
, Texas. The band's expansive guitar-driven sound has led them to be cited as "drop-tuned, slow, repetitive, heavy, dreamy, and undeniably ear-wormy". True Widow has been known for contrasting alternation between male and female vocals. To date, the band has released four albums, their eponymous album ''True Widow'' (2008), ''As High As the Highest Heavens and From the Center to the Circumference of the Earth'' (2011), ''
Circumambulation'' (2013), and after extensive touring, they released ''Avvolgere'' (2016).
Biography
Phillips formerly served guitar and lead vocal duties in the more
indie rock
Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the mu ...
-oriented Dallas band Slowride.
Following the disbandment of Slowride, he soon decided to take a break from music,
and moved away from his native Texas to
where he shifted his focus to
wood art
Wood is a porous and fibrous structural tissue found in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulose fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin tha ...
exclusively for two years. After returning to Dallas, Phillips had aspired to a heavier sound and recruited Estill as a singer-bassist, with Starks on drums, and then they formed True Widow.
The band, which describes its own style of slow, heavy, cerebral music as "stonegaze", or dubbed "doomgaze" by the media, formed in November 2007.
True Widow's self-titled debut album was released in 2008 on the Texas
independent record label
An independent record label (or indie label) is a record label that operates without the funding or distribution of major record labels; they are a type of small- to medium-sized enterprise, or SME. The labels and artists are often represented ...
, End Sounds.
They toured the
US in early 2011 opening for
Surfer Blood
Surfer Blood is an American indie rock band from West Palm Beach, Florida, United States, currently signed to Kanine Records, formerly signed to Joyful Noise Recordings and Warner Bros. Records. The band has four members: John Paul Pitts (lead vo ...
and
…And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead
...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead (often abbreviated as Trail of Dead, or T.o.D., which reads as "death" in German language, German) are an American alternative rock band from Austin, Texas, formed in 1994. The chief members of the b ...
, and later in 2011 opening for
Boris and
Asobi Seksu.
On May 26, 2011, True Widow released their second record titled ''As High As the Highest Heavens and From the Center to the Circumference of the Earth'', via Kemado Records. ''
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...
'' music critic, Mike Diver, wrote that "taking cues from grunge, slowcore, stoner-rock and shoegaze, the Texan trio have crafted a nine-track opus which is as exquisite of elegant detail as it is exemplary of skull-rumbling riff".
In May 2012, they toured with
Kurt Vile
Kurt Samuel Vile (born January 3, 1980) is an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and record producer. He is known for his solo work and as the former lead guitarist of rock band the War on Drugs. Both in the studio and during li ...
.
True Widow's third album, ''
Circumambulation'', was released in July 2013 on Relapse Records,
which signed the band in January 2013. It was recorded in November 2012 at the Echo Lab studio in
Argyle, Texas
Argyle is a town in Denton County, Texas, United States, with a population of 4,403 as of 2020. It is a suburb of Fort Worth.
History
The first European settlement, consisting of a few families, occurred in the Argyle area in the 1850s. The pla ...
, with
record producer
A record producer is a recording project's creative and technical leader, commanding studio time and coaching artists, and in popular genres typically creates the song's very sound and structure.Virgil Moorefield"Introduction" ''The Producer as ...
and
sound engineer Matt Pence
Matthew Louis Pence (born April 13, 1972) is an American recording engineer, producer, and drummer. He owns and manages The Echo Lab studio in Denton, Texas.
Early life and education
Pence is from St. Louis, Missouri.
In 1990, Pence moved to Den ...
, who also produced their sophomore album.
On September 23, 2016, the group released their fourth album, ''Avvolgere'', via Relapse Records, which was recorded by Matt Pence.
Discography
Albums
* ''True Widow'' (End Sounds, 2008)
* ''As High As the Highest Heavens and From the Center to the Circumference of the Earth'' (Kemado, 2011)
* ''
Circumambulation'' (Relapse, 2013)
* ''Avvolgere'' (Relapse, 2016)
EPs
* ''I.N.O.'' (12") (Kemado, 2011)
* ''Violitionist Sessions'' (Violitionist Sessions, 2011)
Singles
* "Skull Eyes" (promo CD) (Kemado, 2011)
Music videos
* "AKA" (2009) (filmed in Sweden)
* "Skull Eyes" (2011)
* "S:H:S" (2013)
* "Theurgist" (2016)
* "F. W. T. S: L. T. M." (2016)
References
External links
Official websiteRelapse Records biographyDiscography at Discogs
{{Authority control
Rock music groups from Texas
American stoner rock musical groups
American shoegaze musical groups
Musical groups established in 2007
Musical groups from Dallas