Sour Widows was formed in 2017 by Maia Sinaiko (they/them), Susanna Thomson (she/her), and Max Edelman (he/him). All three had been close since meeting in various phases of childhood, and when they found themselves living in the same area, making music together came naturally. With a musical connection that was an extension of their longtime friendship, the band began fine-tuning a sound that swung from gently glowing harmonizing to energetic bursts of feedback-laced catharsis. After the release of their self-titled EP in February of 2020, the plan was to continue touring and start work on a full-length album. As it did with so many others, the global pandemic abruptly changed plans for Sour Widows. Rather than slow momentum indefinitely while waiting to safely get into a studio, the band decided to work remotely recording new material themselves.
The title track is perhaps the strongest marker of the distinct evolution in sound throughout Crossing Over. The song slowly expands from a subdued two-chord guitar progression into a dynamic, breathing organism, building tension as it winds through an unconventional song structure with aching lyrics centered around a long-distance relationship. It's a song about the weight of love that sprawls out with the loneliness of an endless highway. Susanna and Maia worked on the song while quarantining together, and the protracted arrangement embodies both the frustrations of physical distance expressed in the lyrics and the strange new ways time felt in 2020.
Sour Widows' music already drew as equally on sharpness as it did tenderness, but the deliberately spare atmosphere of Crossing Over enhances both. Tempos slow and the instrumentation softens while anxiety and grief crackle through these deceptively opulent songs. The EP represents a new phase of Sour Widows' artistry, and points to further growth with their soon-to-follow full-length debut. The unique form of this EP documents the band discovering a voice which derives its translucent power from restraint and intentionality.
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