True Widow is an American rock band formed in 2007 and based in

Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

, 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 Circumambulation (from Latin ''circum'' around and ''ambulātus ''to walk) is the act of moving around a sacred object or idol. Circumambulation of temples or deity images is an integral part of Hindu and Buddhist devotional practice (known in ...

'' (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 Kingdom, United States and New Zealand in the early to mid-1980s. Although the term was originally used to describe rock music released through independent reco ...

-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

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

where he shifted his focus to wood art 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 and medium-sized enterprise, small- to medium-sized enterprise, or SME. The labels ...

, End Sounds. They toured the US in early 2011 opening for Surfer Blood and …And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead, and later in 2011 opening for Boris and

Asobi Seksu Asobi Seksu was an American shoegaze/dream pop band based in New York City. Their music used a textured and effects-heavy vocal and guitar sound. The band primarily consisted of Yuki Chikudate (singing, vocals, Keyboard instrument, keyboards) an ...

. 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 The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

'' 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, music released under the name "Kurt Vile and The Violators," and as the former lead guitarist of ...

. True Widow's third album, ''

'', 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 city in Denton County, Texas, Denton County, Texas, United States, with a population of 5,503 as of 2022. It is a suburb of Fort Worth. History The first European settlement, consisting of a few families, occurred in the Argyle area ...

, with

record producer A record producer or music producer is a music creating project's overall supervisor whose responsibilities can involve a range of creative and technical leadership roles. Typically the job involves hands-on oversight of recording sessions; ensu ...

and

sound engineer An audio engineer (also known as a sound engineer or recording engineer) helps to produce a sound recording, recording or a Concert, live performance, balancing and adjusting sound sources using equalization (audio), equalization, Dynamic range ...

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) * ''

'' (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 website

Relapse Records biography

Discography 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