Last year, the Bay Area band Sour Widows released an excellent EP called Crossing Over, and today they’re back with their first track since then, “Witness.” which ebbs and flows over five minutes of twinging guitars and breaks out into a stunning moment halfway through where it sounds like Susanna Thomson is singing across an incredible gulf: “I can’t show you/ How to reach through/ To the feeling/ It would kill you.”

“This is the first song we finished since I lost my mom in June 2021,” she shared in a statement. “When we started playing together again last fall after being on hiatus for several months because of my mom’s illness, I was feeling easily overwhelmed by most things, and playing and writing were very difficult. Returning to this existing instrumental we had written together before everything in my life changed felt comforting and supportive. Monumental loss creates a very clear divide between those in your life who can understand the depth of that kind of pain and those who can’t. ‘Witness’ speaks to that experience.”

Listen below.

TOUR DATES:
07/29 Oakland, CA @ Eli’s Mile High Club ^
08/05 Los Angeles, CA @ Silver Lake Lounge ~
09/08 Burlington, VT @ Radio Bean
09/10 Providence, RI @ Holiday Inn
09/13 Boston, MA @ O’Briens *
09/14 Brooklyn, NY @ Trans-Pecos *
09/15 Philadelphia, PA @ Ukie Club *
09/17 Richmond, VA @ Gallery5 *
09/18 Baltimore, MD @ Joe Squared *
^ w/ Olivia Kaplan & Diners

“Witness” is out now via Exploding In Sound.

19