![]() ![]() Out In The Storm picks through the ashes of a bad breakup, but Crutchfield is a sharp enough observer of human behavior to turn her lacerating insights inward when necessary. In the years since, Crutchfield has polished Waxahatchee's sound to maximize its glimmering-but-spiky forcefulness, but her words remain as bracing and unsparing as ever. "When Waxahatchee's Katie Crutchfield emerged with 2012's American Weekend, she was a chronicler of life's rawest nerves and realest emotions - dark, gripping stuff born of rootlessness and self-discovery, ideally suited to the album's ragged and unrefined acoustic arrangements. But she is the star of the show, and that she ultimately becomes the director of her own real-life show makes the payoff of the album that much sweeter in the end.'IN PRAISE OF' is a new feature on the rockfeedback website, we explore the critical accliam of our favourite artists and their new album releases. WAXAHATCHEE ELSEWHERE PROFESSIONALWhether it’s her personal or professional relationship with her sister Allison (she sweetly sings “I see myself through my sister’s eyes” on “Sparks Fly”), who plays keyboards and percussion on the album, or relying on a chorus to back her up on “Hear You”, Crutchfield is never really alone. There are hints of such positiveness sprinkled throughout Out in the Storm, mostly in the form of her familial and musical safety net. On closer “Fade”, she sings, “I feel amazing today / You interrupt, you yell in my face / But you finally hear me say / That I’ll walk, I’m walking away.” A soft acoustic track, despite the lyrics, it’s not an extroverted kiss-off but reflective and ultimately empowering. On “Brass Beam”, over a distorted guitar riff, she sings, “I got lost in your rendition of reality / All my offering / Rendered boring hyperoble / I couldn’t see the sun from there, just a beam.” Anybody who has ever experienced unrequited love, let alone a manipulative or bad relationship, can relate to the “darkness no matter what” sentiment she’s sharing. “No Question”, meanwhile, a catchy fuzzy psychedelic-inspired track, sees Crutchfield alternating between high-level lamenting and in-your-face accusations. “When you viciously carve captivation / You set the tone / You will mimic a martyr / Quiet, and left alone / Behind sycophantic amends,” she sings, continuing by dropping the other shoe in the most vicious way since “ Come Pick Me Up”: “You sleep around with most of my friends / And it never ends.”īy the end of the album, Crutchfield has made peace with herself and her situation. As she then sings, “I was waiting for permission to take off,” the bass line comes in, turning a ballad into an elevating rock song.īut even independent of the instrumentation and production, on Out in the Storm, Crutchfield delivers lines that hit as hard as ever. They provide what somehow sounds like an authentic shakiness to Crutchfield’s voice as she sings, “I saw you as a big fish / I saw you as a conquest,” pining her self-worth on a person treating her like shit. The harmonic effects on her vocals is one of many fantastic production decisions from vet John Agnello. The subsequent tracks also essentially alternate in pace and style. “Silver” is an upbeat rocker with a great outro guitar solo, while “Recite Remorse” contains a more upfront vocal performance from Crutchfield over keyboards and a more ambient background. But “8 Ball”, the next track, features subtle honky-tonk riffs in the background and swaying guitar lines, Crutchfield taking one of many opportunities to decry her past partner: “When I fall / I will not be ashamed at all / You’ll see a failure / You wanna brand my losing streak / You wanna be the 8 ball.” It’s easy to hear someone like Miranda Lambert singing these lines, but they come from someone who a half-decade ago was still entrenched in the DIY scene. Opener “Never Been Wrong” features crisp drums, big hooks, and a heavy bass-line, a departure from the slinky alt-country and indie punk of past albums. Take the first two tracks, which could not be more different. Born out of a bad many-year relationship, the songs on Out in the Storm describe Crutchfield’s wavering between confidence and self-doubt in language sometimes direct and sometimes metaphoric, music at times “three chords and the truth” country or minimal folk and at other times stadium-sized rock. Her latest album, Out in the Storm, doesn’t have one standout track, but it may be her strongest collection, one of songs that are both well-written and instrumentally diverse. ![]() ![]() Past albums by indie rock band Waxahatchee, the project of singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Katie Crutchfield, have had clear standout tracks: “Be Good” on American Weekend, “Coast to Coast” and “Peace and Quiet” on Cerulean Salt, and “Under a Rock” and “Air” on Ivy Tripp. Waxahatchee Album Review: Out in the Storm ![]()
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