Sour Widows – Lullaby
Bay Area alternative rock duo, Sour Widows, comprised of Maia Sinaiko and Susanna Thomson, release “Lullaby,” a track that presents a harrowing portrait of genocide in Palestine.
It slowly morphs into a screed of retribution, though, with Sinaiko speaking, singing, and screaming their hopes for comeuppance in the song’s second half.
“I’m Assyrian. I belong to an ethnic minority indigenous to the Middle East who for hundreds of years have been persecuted, murdered and forced into diaspora as pawns in the West’s colonial game of world domination. I see the horrors Palestinian people have faced now for almost one hundred years and I feel tied to their struggle,” Sinako explains. “I’m also Jewish. I am implicated in the Zionist project of the illegal state of Israel. The suffering of my ancestors has been weaponized and corrupted to justify the genocide of Palestinians. I believe there is no freedom for the Jewish people in Zionism, only the destruction of our humanity and the humanity of Palestinians. As a Jew and an Assyrian I reject the hypocrisy and evil of Zionism, and I pray every day for a free Palestine.”
Sigil was crafted with acclaimed producer and Jay Som mastermind Melina Duterte (boygenius) in downtown Los Angeles. Its songs curve in unexpected directions and are the most magnetic the band have written yet. There is a newfound immediacy to the album as if Sour Widows have urgent findings to share, and throughout Sigil, ostensible disaster ushers in a new start as a feeling of hope slithers from every dark corner. The album is available for pre-order on tape, CD, and vinyl, including a Julia’s War exclusive splatter vinyl limited to 200 copies.
Not long ago, Maia Sinaiko had a nightmare that morphed into an epiphany. While they slept, Sinaiko imagined that the world was ending, that the Earth itself was about to be swallowed by a black hole. From their perch in an old bedroom in a long-ago apartment, Sinaiko saw that physics itself was rupturing—water ran in reverse, doors locked and unlocked without a touch, traffic lights hung upside down. All traces of human civilization would soon be obliterated, our collective efforts lost forever; no one would ever know, Sinaiko realized in their nocturnal terror, about the films their sister had made. Sinaiko cried to their father, who responded to this looming end-of-everything scenario with an unexpected bit of sanguine wisdom: “But it could be amazing.”
This is the premise of the opening title track of Sigil, the second album by Sour Widows, the Bay Area band Sinaiko started nearly a decade ago now with fellow songwriter, singer, and guitarist Susanna Thomson. Named for a dream that Thomson had about making a record called “Sigil”, the record navigates the wasteland of human cruelty and loss only to emerge with defiant and hard-won hope. Awful things happen during Sigil. A genocide leaves bodies rotting in the sun. Lovers subjugate their counterparts with empty promises, emotional cruelty, and physical dominance. Parents are lost, leaving behind chasms that only seem to grow. But these conflicts and crises alternately produce righteous rage, welcome solidarity, and revelatory freedom. Sigil sounds like a musical breakthrough for Sour Widows, and its songs about persevering and growing feel like personal breakthroughs, too. An end is always nearby here. What comes after can always be amazing.
Sour Widows are touring this fall in support of Sigil on a tour with Squirrel Flower that kicks off later this month.
Tour Dates:
10/23 – St. Louis, MO @ Off Broadway *
10/24 – Lawrence, KS @ White Schoolhouse *
10/25 – Fayetteville, AR @ George’s Majestic Lounge *
10/27 – Dallas, TX @ Ruins *
10/28 – San Antonio, TX @ Paper Tiger *
10/29 – Houston, TX @ White Oak Music Hall *
10/30 – Austin, TX @ 29th St Ballroom *
11/01 – Phoenix, AZ @ Valley Bar *
11/03 – Los Angeles, CA @ Sid The Cat Auditorium *
11/04 – Ojai, CA @ Ojai Deer Lodge *
11/05 – San Francisco, CA @ The Chapel *
11/07 – Seattle, WA @ Tractor Tavern *
11/08 – Vancouver, BC @ Wise Hall *
11/09 – Olympia, WA @ Wild Child *
11/11 – Portland, OR @ Aladdin Theater *
11/12 – Boise, ID @ Neurolux *
11/13 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Urban Lounge *
11/15 – Denver, CO @ Globe Hall *
11/17 – Omaha, NE @ Reverb Lounge *
11/18 – Minneapolis, MN @ Fine Line *
11/19 – Milwaukee, WI @ Cactus Club *
11/20 – Chicago, IL @ Thalia Hall *
* w/ Squirrel Flower
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