Waxahatchee’s Tigers Blood Review
Written by Harley, one of our music writers, and edited by Shraddha, one of our editors!
Katie Crutchfield, the woman behind Waxahatchee, has an earthy, coarse voice, one that, in my brief dip into country/folk/Americana in the wake of Kacey Musgraves and Beyoncé, fits the genre very well. Tigers Blood seems like a distillation of some of my favorite country and folk records in the past, capturing the candid, passionate spirit of Lucinda Williams and the dense, digestible, but still majestic songwriting of Tracy Chapman. While I immensely enjoyed her previous record, Saint Cloud, Tigers Blood is much more powerful to me because it is a much more engaging text. The country is more heartland rock, the folk is more stark and in the moment rather than a slowburn unfolding against fingerpicked guitars.
The songwriting in Tigers Blood is typical country: romance in its reconnection and dissolution, nostalgia, the way you look in the mirror and see yourself turning gray, working hard for the American dream but the restless vocal performances and minute details are what allures me to the music. “Right Back To It,” arguably the best song on the album, ambles forward with a restless, concentrated melody, elevated to perfect heights with MJ Lenderman’s vocals that wrap around Crutchfield’s singing like a ribbon. “Burns Out at Midnight,” is a typical country song about resilience, but the chug of the guitar, the prairie-like instrumentals, and the march-like quality of the lyrics makes it an effortless listen. Even a song like “365,” with its barren instrumentals and stark lyrics is elevated by a ferocious vocal performance that reminds me of Beyoncé’s “1+1,” where you can just feel the devotion in the singer’s throat. Crutchfield’s voice is effectively chameleonic to stave off repetition, changing tempo, tone, and inflections per track.
Most of the songs have little highlights even if they don’t stick out: “Bored’s” movement and guitar runs make it a great, catchy pop song, “Lone Star Lake’s” nostalgic texture makes a perfect post-work, sunset drive song, the closing harmonies of “Evil Spawn,” although they aren’t my favorite.
I feel the need to reiterate Lenderman’s presence on the record. An artist I’ve been following because of his solo materials and with Wednesday, I am absolutely in love with his work on the record, from his sweet, complementary singing to his guitar, and it is what made this album go from great to near flawless for me, covering the spots where the album starts to drag. The record rarely drags—sometimes the energy clashes such as the quickness of “Bored” colliding with the mismatched energy of “Lone Star Lake” and “Crimes of the Heart,” and it is not necessarily a cutting-edge album—but it’s just a simply great singer-songwriter album.
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This piece was written by one of our poetry columnists, Harley. Reach him at @ha.rleyn, on Instagram!
This piece was edited by one of our editors, Shraddha. Reach her at @shraddhagulati_ on Instagram!
