Manifesting from the Ether with Sour Widows
Photo Credit: Jaxon Whittington
We had an opportunity to chat with Susanna and Maia of Sour Widows about their recently release LP 'Sigil' and more! Check out what they had to say!
I read that one of the principle tracks (and title track) “Sigil” along with the title of the album found inspiration for their premises in dreams from both of you respectively. Can you share a bit about these dreams and how they influenced the record?
Susanna - "It did come from the ether of our brains. Me and Maia have been friends for so long that we have a telepathic connection. We will say things in the same way and at the same time."
Maia - “Synced up mentally I would say…”
Susanna - “We wrote a song separately, they were the same chords, progression, strum pattern. We still need to finish those. I feel like the subconscious is something that Maia and I are really into. We were both really into that idea and meditating on that dream.”
Maia - “I had a really crazy dream about a black hole and we got really interested in them. I think I've been trying to write the song "Sigil" for a long time. It just seemed like it was the perfect time. Some of those lyrics had been bopping in my head for a couple of years. I had never really figured out how I wanted to say what I wanted to say in a song. Knowing that Sigil was the title of the record.”
Keeping on themes of the record, Sigil also brings some other emotions and themes in such as genocide, the loss of parents and loved ones, and emotional cruelty. This record also serves as a response of sorts to the things happening in your beloved Bay Area with the tech takeover in that area. Can you touch on some of those themes and background and how they shaped the album?
Susanna - "I think the record, making music in general serves as a place for Maia and I to put our intentions. Songs and music are kind of a magical thing for the two of us. I feel like we put it as a tool for manifestation. Making music is our favorite thing to do and the world that we've built through this band and in our lives is special. In that same vein, committing to a life in the arts, it necessitates a rejection of the gentrification of a beautiful city, and how it's taken over by the tech complex and the destruction of the world. That's so antithetical to everything we want to manifest."
Maia - "As the genocide in Palestine has happened, that was something I felt really angry about. I usually don't write songs that are super literal. But there was so much that I felt like I was able to say very directly about how I felt. Doing anything artistic in this life requires a lot of risk and sacrifice. You have to have faith in humanity and what we're capable of as people and the genocide in Palestine is anti-human and anti life. It's true cruelty and hate, and music is just a way to talk about how I feel and a natural place to put those emotions."
You had some awesome musical choices on this one including new chord progressions and various effects on guitar (such as the heavily distorted guitar on “Lullaby”), cello on on “Sigil”, organ on “Her Garden”, and violin on “Wounds of Purification”. Some of these choices were new for you. Can you speak about some of the sonic landscapes you made on this record?
Susanna - "I think the biggest thing was we wanted to expand the palate we were working with and expand the collection of songs. We wanted to do something different from the last album. We had a clear vision of where strings would go, the organ was kind of a decision that was like 'what else could go?' while in the studio. We like to say 'A bad idea will fail on it's own', if someone has an idea, we love to try it. We definitely had strings and those types of arraignments in mind for sure. Strings lend a lot of emotional depth to an arrangement. That felt like a clear choice, of wanting to raise the sense of emotional impact."
Maia - "I think we were trying to make something that was a little more complex. We also collaborated with really talented producers. We would take inspirations from parts of other albums and create them on different instruments. They were so good about finding those sounds and instruments."
I love the music videos for “Blood in the Grass” and “Lucky Star”! I feel like these are becoming more of lost art with the increase of visualizers and lyric videos. Can you share a bit about the development of the videos
Maia - “We had a lot of fun making them. We talk about this often when brainstorming. It does feel like music videos are a lost art and I blame social media for that. Short form video has become the way people consume art. To me, what's cool about a video, whether it's high budget or low budget, what makes a successful video, is that it has to grab you. It has to be wholly interesting. We wanted to make the videos ourselves with the help and guidance of a close friend or two. I think that's another reason why it’s a lost art is because so many artists don't have a budget for a video. We wanted to just have fun making something ourselves. With “Lucky Star”, it was inspired by found footage horror movies because we both love horror films. I had this idea of a monster under the bed, but also being the person in bed with the monster underneath. It's kind of a creepy song, with creepy lyrics. It’s a song that was rich to pull a strong emotional aesthetic feeling. That video we made with a friend who shot our first-ever music video. He has a distinct style and does everything himself. We were like "let's go do it hands on and improvised a little" we filmed a lot in two nights.”
Susanna - “I think it was pretty cool to have the restrictive parameters of no money and limited resources. We thought “How can we make these look cool with two pieces of equipment”. I think both songs, have an edge of darkness to them. All three songs we made videos for really (including "Choke Chain"). Each of the videos we had maybe two or three strong images in mind and the rest happened naturally. With “Blood in the Grass” we wanted trail cam inspired footage, with laser pointers evoking a scope of a gun. It just so happened we happened upon some deer in the Oakland Hills and it flowed so easily. Especially since we didn't have everything storyboarded out. Same thing with "Choke Chain" we didn't think we were going to make a third video, we had one night to do it and we just made it in my room and it turned out great.”
You’re joining another favorite artist of ours in Squirrel Flower on tour. What are you most looking forward to with touring the record?
Maia - “We both absolutely love the Squirrel Flower record that came out earlier this year. It was a happy accident that the Squirrel Flower tour happened on the same day our album dropped. We are supporting one of my favorite artists and also a friend. We just love her music so much. It's really fun to play songs we haven't played with audiences before. Before this tour we had only played these tracks in the studio. We're workshopping the live version of the tracks now. We're having a great time and we're happy it's a five-week tour.”
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