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May 27, 2020 Widowspeak By Samantha Small

Brooklyn-based duo, Widowspeak have shared their new single “Breadwinner,” their first release in three years since 2017’s Expect the Best, the band’s fourth album. Along with the single is a stop-motion video made by Wisowspeak members Molly Hamilton and Robert Earl Thomas. Among Hamilton’s soft timbre and a muffled hi-hat, black and white images of dough rise and fall. “I’ll be the breadwinner/I’ll go instead/I’ll be the one to rise/you can stay in bed.” sings Hamilton. Watch the video below.

Co-produced by Sam Evian (Cass McCombs, Anna Burch) and mixed by Ali Chant (Aldous Harding, Perfume Genius, PJ Harvey), “Breadwinner” was inspired by the cover of a zine by Ian Vens, which sat on display in the duo’s home for years. It read, “OH PLEASE BABY JUST QUIT OK IF ANYTHING COMES ALONG PLEASE PROMISE ME YOULL QUIT THAT JOB.”

In a press release, Hamilton explained the full inspiration behind “Breadwinner.”

“I have to recognize all that we took for granted when I wrote this song a few years ago, or even when we were recording it last winter. There was the option to imagine a new reality for yourself, the choice to quit and start over, the possibility to support your loved ones. Obviously, there are lyrics within this song that feel so strangely on-the-nose right now (even the part about bread), and perhaps their meaning has changed since everything is different. Now feels like the only time we could possibly let this song into the world, when everyone is trying to figure out life beyond the way we earn a living, and how we’ll earn anything going forward. So, without wanting to capitalize on the heavy realities we’re all facing, we hope it brings some comfort or at least entertainment to people at home.”

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