On her 5th solo project, Katie Crutchfield (aka. Waxahtachee) delivers her most powerful and immersive songwriting, with soaring choruses and lush instrumentals that set it apart from almost anything else. Ditching the lo-fi, ambient aesthetics of her early albums, Crutchfield crafts smooth and soulful country ballads, raw and refreshing in tone.
Lyrics traverse everything from love and loss to addiction and self-loathing, stripping the songs down to bare and emotive gut punches doused in gentle guitars and Southern swagger. Dizzying choruses of heartache and pain interplay with Springsteen-esque verses and country twang, properly embracing Americana for the first time in her career. It’s easily the Alabama singer/songwriter’s most Alabama work to date.
This style suits Crutchfield perfectly. Production is clean and fresh, a lot of headroom being given to the vocals which allow her voice to flutter above hazy instrumentals. They are given space to breathe and it’s breathtaking. The guitars on this album are truly special, warm and rich sounding acoustics that swoon and twang like a true country record should. Rhythm sections provide a tight backbone for the whole thing, never intruding but always pounding in the background, driving the album forwards.
At times Saint Cloud is like Bob Dylan, with its gently plucked guitars and soulful vocals on tracks like ‘Lilacs’. Elsewhere, it seems more Bon Iver as wistful lyrics and melancholy vocals layer over elegant and elaborate guitar parts. There’s a bit of Cat Power that finds itself in the mix as well, warm and rich vocal harmonies that carry an emotional burden and slowly wind up into bittersweet choruses.
Saint Cloud is a mark of true progression for Waxahatchee, as she abandons the sombre, break-up indie-pop of her early releases to embrace Americana. Her lyrics are self-aware and mature, instrumentals more rounded and smooth than ever before and the whole thing coated with a thick gloss of proper country elegance.
Saint Cloud is an album born out of sobriety and as a result, it seems to have a crystal clear focus and maturity.
8/10
Alex Thompson
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