The Widowmaker

Acoustic | Blues | Folk

The Widowmaker The Widowmaker - Soundtrack to Reality review. The soulful songs sweep from my earphones into my hopeful ears and a familiar smile appears on my face. The longing tone of his voice with the echo of the lyrics soaking through my mind, I have fallen in love...and I don’t even know his name yet. When music makes you feel like you are being unfaithful to your one and only, then you know you are addicted. The Widowmaker is the alter ego of Southampton Solent student Ian Easton, who is also the singing/song writing enigma behind folk rock group Lowly Gallows. With a naturally twisting vocal reminiscent of early Johnny cash and lyrical ability that could only come from 25 years of ‘life’ experience, this man belongs to music. With the new EP ‘Soundtrack to Reality’ shining through the super power that is ‘MySpace Music’, a grand sense of mystery surrounds the elusive Widow Maker. While ‘Queen of Hearts’ murmurs through your speakers you are no longer ferociously social networking, you are being caressed by a lonely wanderer as he reminisces about the love of his life. The sense of vintage nostalgia is vast, as if you have encapsulated the haunting groan of Bob Dylan and poetic essence of Dylan Thomas but injected both with an unfounded realism very clear in music of The Widowmaker. As the strums of the acoustic guitar guide you into the song the vocal starts to mimic the bellowing shifts of his strings. The song reads like a conversation between a tired man and his lover counting the flaws he sees in himself and with their relationship but still remembering the love they have, a conversation every not-quite-perfect person has had with the one who looks after them when they don’t know their own name. The concept of the song is heart breaking because it hits just a little too close to home for so many of us, however it’s not uncomfortable to listen to, its soothing, like an old friend retelling a familiar story. The tide turns with the song ‘Thanks Dallas’, it is with this song that The Widowmaker’s soul shines through the acoustic exterior that so many artists use to fake true spirit. The elongated vocal lengths and painful lyrics would feel at home in the fields of Glastonbury accompanied by head bopping folk enthusiasts, as well as in an overhyped pub in Camden surrounded by a lost youth searching for a piece of reality. It holds a mythical balance of grass roots country blues and folk romance, such a balance sounds understated on paper but the voice of The Widowmaker guides us through and we meet musical clarity with open arms at the other end. The last chords of his guitar leave you haunted and waiting more, desperate to cling on to a small piece of a memory before the song sinks away. Beyond the songs previously mentioned, one song remains on my lips for hours after its conclusion. A song, which despite its bleak meaning and lost hope, brings forward all the visions of the most amazing times of your life with someone you never thought would go away. Be it a friend or a lover, ‘1983’ has the soothing qualities of a lullaby, the relevance of a breaking news bulletin the day a disaster strikes and the purity of a wide eyed little girl taking her first steps. Each word sung drips with remorse with an unapologetic echo allowing you to own a little piece of this uncontrollable story. If the world does not hear this music it will be missing a piece of art that can never be replicated or redesigned, you will not see it in gift shops or on offer in WHSmith but it will remain. It will remain because some addictions just can’t be killed.

- Vicky McIntosh. Editor, Audio Addict Magazine

The Widowmaker's Official MySpace Page