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Die Entwicklung, die Katie Crutchfield aus Philadelphia seit ihren Anfangstagen vor knapp 10 Jahren genommen hat ist wirklich erstaunlich. Angefangen als Ex-Punk-Bardin mit lo-fi Charme, ist sie heute großes Vorbild für eine Generation von v.a. Female Songwriterinnen, die sich ihre Roughness aus den Punktagen bewahrt haben, musikalisch aber viel weiter vorangeschritten sind, und sich im Pop und R&B bedienen. Auf “Saint Cloud” spielt sie mit den (ebenfalls sehr tollen!) Bonny Doon und Leuten aus der Kevin Morby- und Bon Iver-Band als Backing Band, und hat ihren Sound noch weiter heruntergefahren, bzw. teils etwas funky aufgepeppt, und sich mehr einem Alt-Country-Ansatz verschrieben. Das funktioniert ganz ausgezeichnet, und es ist wirklich kein Wunder dass Crutchfield nicht nur in einer Liga spielt mit Phoebe Bridgers, Anna Burch, Soccer Mommy und wie sie alle heißen, sondern fast schon Veteranin in diesem Kontext ist. Eine ganz großartige Platte!
What do we hold on to from our past? What must we let go of to truly move forward? Waxahatchee’s Katie Crutchfield spent much of 2018 reckoning with these questions and revisiting her roots for answers. The result is Saint Cloud, an intimate journey through the places she’s been, filled with the people she’s loved.
Written immediately in the period following her decision to get sober, the album is an unflinching self-examination. This raw, exposed narrative terrain is aided by a shift in sonic arrangements as well. While her last two records featured the kind of big guitars, well-honed noise, and battering sounds that characterized her Philadelphia scene and strongly influenced a burgeoning new class of singer-songwriters, Saint Cloud strips back those layers to create space for Crutchfield’s voice and lyrics. The result is a classic Americana sound with modern touches befitting an artist who has emerged as one of the signature storytellers of her time. Many of the narratives on Saint Cloud concern addiction and the havoc it wreaks on ourselves and our loved ones, as Crutchfield comes to a deeper understanding of love not only for those around her but for herself. This coalesces most clearly on Fire, which she says was literally written in transit, during a drive over the Mississippi River into West Memphis, and serves as a love song to herself, a paean to moving past shame into a place of unconditional self-acceptance.
Over the course of Saint Cloud, which was recorded the summer of 2019 and produced by Brad Cook (Bon Iver), Crutchfield peels back the distortion of electric guitars to create a wider sonic palette than on any previous Waxahatchee album. It is a record filled with nods to classic country, folk-inspired tones, and distinctly modern touches. To bolster her vision, Crutchfield enlisted Bobby Colombo and Bill Lennox, both of the Detroit band Bonny Doon, to serve as backing band on the record, along with Josh Kaufman (Hiss Golden Messenger, Bon Iver) on guitar and keyboards and Nick Kinsey (Kevin Morby) on drums and percussion. Saint Cloud marks the beginning of a journey for Crutchfield, one that sees her leaving behind past vices and the comfortable environs of her Philadelphia scene to head south in search of something new. If on her previous work Crutchfield was out in the storm, she’s now firmly in the eye of it, taking stock of her past with a clear perspective and gathering the strength to carry onward.