Waxahatchee - Cerulean Salt

There's been some talk about this on different threads, so I figured it might as well get its own.

I really like this record! Like someone wrote, channeling early Liz Phair, and I might add sisters Hersh/Donnelly at their more harmonic. Plus maybe a touch of Athens, Ga. It's very 90s, in the best sense. Not particularly original, but very good.

Thoughts?

I liked it. I haven't heard it much since spring though. I liked her performance at Pitchfork too

I also like this record a lot, but haven't spent quite enough time with it yet to know why.

i love it

thought about starting a combination waxahatchee/swearin' thread the other day, guess i'll just start a swearin' thread on its own

this record is very good tho

Swearin', that's the sister, right? Haven't heard it yet. Will check out.

I like it pretty well, gives me more of a K Recs / Kill Rock Stars vibe, Lois Maffeo and stuff like that. Moreso than Liz Phair. But yeah in any case very '90s. Gonna check out Swearin'.

oh this is a new album ... American Weekend is the one I've heard

it's making me want to listen to the Spinanes so that's good I think

I like it but something's keeping me from really liking it. I don't know. Maybe it's that Tanya Donelly, Kristin Hersh, Juliana Hatfield et al all have new music that's getting maybe 1/10 the attention

Yeah, just checked out American Weekend yesterday and that one gives me a slightly different vibe. YThe k records link seems aapt. liked that one too, but didn't quite hit the spot like the new one did. But will listen more.

Xpost

y'all owe it to yourselves to check out p.s. eliot

Finally checked out P.S.Eliot. Great stuff!

http://www.npr.org/2015/01/12/376758282/waxahatchee-air

Sounds like the new record might be a little different from the previous two. But I've liked everything she's done so far. Have also noticed that I've liked a lot of stuff coming out of/through Philadelphia recently...though I guess both Crutchfields have since moved to New York.

http://pitchfork.com/reviews/tracks/17337-waxahatchee-under-a-rock/

New album streaming on NPR for some regions (not mine):

http://www.npr.org/2015/03/29/395096850/first-listen-waxahatchee-ivy-tripp

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/04/06/first-person-singular

really like the new one, it's giving me some major 90s indie nostalgia

Great article. Love the new album. I don't see it as being as good as Cerulean Salt, but it does seem like a grower, so maybe it will get there for me in time.

wait i might like this one better than cerulean salt!

the sound of it is... more open? idk if that makes sense. sonically it reminds me of the p.s. eliot records

This album is often a stone bore and I'm trying to figure out if it's her melodic sense or if the songs suffer from malnourishment.

wait i made that claim before i got to the second half which gets very... flimsy.

gonna listen to p.s. eliot

better off listening to T.S. Eliot imo

it feels like an album of demos that never got fleshed out

idk I love this album

agree with cad but sounding like demos isn't really a negative for me in this case. i used to be a die-hard gbv fan so i've already bought into the 'just throw down a verse and a chorus or 2 and then move on' approach to songwriting

There's this annoying thing she does that sounds like she's unnecessarily pausing for breath in the middle of a phrase, kinda kills the song when it happens, her vocal lines sound ponderous more often than not.

The p4k review of the p.s. Eliot reissue brought me back to that first p.s. Eliot album for the first time in awhile, goddamn this is great stuff. This record is basically what I wish pop punk sounded like. It's so loose but stuffed with hooks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edl7918vuDU

old song. just, you know, good.

I've liked her in the past, but her records always end up being kind of ephemeral for me. This sounds a lot brighter, bigger and poppier than her older stuff, though, and I think its pretty great:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBpMXuzHR3I

yeah this is great

her sister's new album is really good - I've seen reviews talking about the use of synths etc but to me it sounds like a throwback indie singer-songwriter album

that ep of early recordings from last year is incredible

I've been listening to all three of her albums recently. Much better than I think people realize.

Like, ivy tripp holds up after a quadrillion replays.

ya, i'm stoked abt the new album too

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDaccHBAGcM

New single out and it totally rules

awesome

This new one is streaming on NPR first listen and on my first listen it is their best record, or at least the best since the P.S. Eliot Sadie record which was just dynamite.

This is great ^ thanks

ditto - love this. on my third listen.

this is really good, and i wasn't prior a Waxahatchee fan

Love it. A step up from the last record for sure.

was never a huge fan before, but this new one shook me to my core

"no question" rules

As does "Hear You"

The single is terrific but the album as a whole is just so rote and straight down the line. I give every album a dutiful listen because there's the kernel of something great in there but she's really hampered by a lack of musical imagination.

I just interviewed her and she was a goddamn delight. I always worry about talking to artists I have a really string connection to that maybe it'll hurt the connection somehow, but she was so thoughtful and pleasant.

Also Great Thunder is nice little EP

that's awesome! look forward to reading the interview when it's published.

the opening line to sparks fly can sometimes, by itself, make me tear up. "i take it back i was never alone." idk if i've shared this on ilx before

I love every Waxahatchee album but this one's pretty immediately my favorite.

listened twice, haven't really absorbed the lyrics but feels like it's her sturdiest songwriting for sure, just some absolutely marvelous, effortless-sounding tunes.

particularly pleased with the fact that the song with the Fleetwood Mac-ish opening riff is called "Witches."

I think Cerulean Salt will remain my fave, but this is a great album

Really feeling this album. More polished but in a good way

will listen tonight while making pizza. i love waxahatchee so much.

Didn't see this till now...really liked the last one, I'll check Bandcamp tonight.

Her pronounced Dylanisms on the new album are charming, even if the songs are a bit samey; I tend to like her best when she aims for a bigger sound, as on the last album. "Lilacs" is the immediate standout, for me.

i think this is -- for now -- my favorite band. it's crazy, all of a sudden (last five years lol) they aren't a newish group, but a band with a formidable back catalog i can tap into whenever i want, which is everyday.

"can't do much" is one of the great love songs of all time, i think. this verse:

When you're missing me or what you see
Something wild that you think you'll never be
Something safe that you could tend to and lead
Something versatile to fill all your needs

in other hands, this would be a troubling, maybe cynical sort-of-psychoanalytic insight--that people really fall in love with an idea rather than a person. specifically, they fall in love with the idea that the beloved will compensate for the things they lack in themselves.

but she pivots. she knows this is part of love, this play of projections, but it's not something to lament. it's how people are, and the reason they can come to feel they need one another. or something like that. there's something to think about here.

Maybe I give it to you all on a dime
I love you til the day I
Love you til the day I
Love you til the day I
Love you til the day I die
I guess it don't matter why

"fire" is equally good. st. cloud is just a tremendous album.

her best

I didn't really spent too much time with this album at first because i figured it was too "happy" and "bright" for my miserable ass at the start of the pandemic, but I've really come around to it in the past month or so. It's her best since Cerulean Salt

it's a hard won "brightness" though. doesn't feel trite.

but i agree with you. i thought i would miss the darkness of the earlier stuff.

hard-won brightness is a good way to put it!

her songwriting has gotten so good. i say this as someone who always loved her stuff, but she is now writing songs that are as subtle and well-realized as it gets. in the pantheon imo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEyYlyRr2_U

like, just listen to this:

I take it for granted
If I could love you unconditionally
I could iron out the edges of the darkest sky
For some of us it ain't enough
It ain't enough
And I take off driving
Past places been tainted
I put on a good show for you
And when I turn back around
Will you drain me back out
Will you let me believe that I broke through?

alfred, which poet was it who said that the best poems feel like a memory? like you're seeing, reflected back to you, and crystalized, the best of what you've ever thought? something you'd forgotten

whoever that was, i think they were otm and i think these songs have it. nothing feels forced or false and nothing seems simple either.

Thread revive inspired me to listen to Ivy Tripp again - still her best imo.

what about the blinding greatness of "Singer's No Star" though?

Mostly all the time will go to you
Coming up for air for all the people who
recognize the sadness in a stranger with less to lose

We get comfortable with our detachment to our oldest friends
And you got me here where I'm left alone
I'm not the only thing you ever left

If I were to spoil a victory
or accept all of your trust and praise in spite of me
Will you recognize the failure in my voice before I leave?

We sit on a crowded ship
It's not the ending that's the tragic part
If you'd get off my shoulders and sit beside me we would both be fine

Lovely song and masterful lyrics, I agree.

Btw—on the cover of Ivy Tripp is she standing in a field of poison ivy?

and the lilacs drink the water
and the lilacs die
and the lilacs drink the water
marking the slow
slow
slow passing of time

I've really never listened to this band, but every time I came across a song, either in the wild or on shuffle or on some playlist, I've thought it was lovely. So tonight I played them for the first time (on shuffle) and boy, it's all so great. But it went through this particularly captivating streak of songs, first a cover of "Country Roads" (lovely), then Big Star's "Thirteen" (always lovely), then their own "Fire" (incredible) and then "Streets of Philadelphia," which killed me dead.

she is an exceptionally good songwriter. "fire" is unbelievable.

fuck me American Weekend is nine years old already

i love saint cloud, it’s fucking good as hell

I was just lukewarm on Waxahatchee all these years and lost track of her output a while ago, but was convinced to check out St. Cloud when it started showing up on various EOY lists. Easily one of my favorite albums of the last 2-3 years.

Saint Cloud is great, but I think American Weekend is still unsurmountable masterpiece.

exactly same, pgwp

i'd probably need to give em all a listen again but I think Out of the Storm is my favourite, though about half the tracks on Cerulean Salt are downright friggin amazing

I really like Saint Cloud but it sort of fell off my listening rotation. Fire is amazing, but -- and this is more of a personal preference than a genuine criticism -- I find I cant relate to the warm vibe of it that much? maybe i just need to brighten up, but the angst and tension in her previous records are what really grab me.

also, katie is one of the few artists whose autograph I have and I take pride in that. (an autographed copy of ivy tripp from 2015, specifically). but ah, asking an artist for an autograph is such an awkward experience.

I thought she was hella boring for years. Then Saint Cloud impressed me. At Pitchfork she made me hear how many of those songs are variations on "Sweet Jane" chords to my ears.

I fiercely love every one of her albums. St Cloud is the least melancholy. There is hard won hope in it.

New album coming under the name Plains, a duo with Jess Williamson. First song is great.

https://www.stereogum.com/2194397/plains-katie-crutchfield-jess-williamson-problem-with-it/music/amp/

I’m not familiar with Williamson, so giving her most recent solo album a spin.

that's a great little song, thanks for the heads up

My fanboy love for Waxahatchee coupled with my unfamiliarity with Jess Williamson is making it hard to get into the new Plains album. The non-Waxahatchee songs are fine but I have an urge to hit the skip button each time. I know I’m being unfair but I haven’t gotten over that feeling yet

Yeah. Same.

«Swan Dive» still kills me on the reg

Yay she's back! I was immune to the Jess Williamson and Plains stuff, and honestly to Waxa pre-Saint Cloud, but Saint Cloud is one of my favourite records of the decade.

Excited to hear this new one - the instrumentation's a bit formulaic, but love the sound of her and MJ Lenderman's voices on the first single

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YL3iHhERWJw

Yesssssss

St. Cloud is my favorite album of the decade so far. Four years later I’m still not tired of it. New one sounds great.

St. Cloud rules. This is good, too.

Her Substack is emailed to me, which is weird--I never signed up for anything. I bought something from Bandcamp once, maybe they take your e-mail from there and just send it to you.

As Josh In Chicago indicated upthread, the Deluxe Saint Cloud is great, and my gateway, and Plains was worth the few replays it took me to get it (now I get Plains lyrics/stance-wise better than some of Saint Cloud, despite her song-by-song explanations to Pitchfork, but that's just lyrics, the music was never a problem on either alb) Go MJ!

I got chills from that, she leans into the melody like it's nothing at all

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lol CD version already sold out

holy shit, that song.

i wonder if Jake sings backing vocals on the whole album?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouKDEpytxlw

fantastic

Just one listen but this is very good -- not as immediate/hooky as Saint Cloud, but a more mature sound, more penetrating lyrics, and may well be a better album....time will tell. Lead singles were my favorite -- "Right Back to It" and "Bored" are stunners -- but the comedown in the last four tracks or so ("Crowbar," "The Wolves") also grabbed me.

I am such a sucker for a good male/female harmony and this record's got a bunch of them

Loving it so far but not ready to compare to St Cloud, which would be unfair. That album was a grower and I expect this one will be too. But first listen, every song is a winner.

Kind of annoyed that this is out today, but Anti says they aren't shipping the copy I pre-ordered three months ago until April 5th.

huh i had no idea this was on Anti and not Merge! Still need to listen to it

pgwp otm

more songs from the territory of st. cloud but i'm not complaining bc they're great

well of all the great records released yesterday this is the one i can't stop listening to

well, what's it gonna taaaaaaaaaaaaake

The Tigers Blood title track has marvelous lyrics.

well of all the great records released yesterday this is the one i can't stop listening to

Her voice has taken a step up from saint cloud. it's really something here.

^^ otm. her singing on "burns out at midnight" and "crimes of the heart" - best in her career

"365" too

Crutchfield should cover this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5wPqaUMlkE

Female-fronted country rock is having a moment, huh? Alternative/Indie's got Wednesday, Ratboys, Waxahatchee, Hurray for the Riff Raff, Big Thief. Pop's got Kacey and now even Beyonce. Thrilling time to be a fan.

Plus all the Margos and Maggies and Morgans, etc

Can't find a reasonable explanation for why this hasn't clicked with me yet

"Right Back to It" is a massive tune, but the rest of the album---I'm still waiting

Damn Wynonna Judd and Lucinda Williams both came out for the encore last night at The Ryman. Judd did "Love is Alive" and Williams did "Abandoned". Videos here:

https://www.brooklynvegan.com/watch-waxahatchee-bring-out-lucinda-williams-wynonna-judd-mj-lenderman-in-nashville/

xp not "Bored"?

I like 'Bored '!

I like all the songs tbh, it's just not on constant repeat the way Saint Cloud was

looks like she also covered "Side of the Road" recently, I would've died

saw her for the first time since 2018 and the setlist is now entirely Tigers Blood/Plains/Saint Cloud, was like seeing a whole new (still great) Waxahatchee

I get Katie Crutchfield's Substack unsolicited for some reason...The heading on today's email was "I know he's crazy but he's the one"--swear to god, I thought it was going to be an RFK Jr. endorsement.

yes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IEGTlVNDeg

banger

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFvQOjAOBQ0

Nice enough.

I like her track with futurebirds « easy company »

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03xub1VtH94

interview in free version of latest Don't Rock The Jukebox:

Issue #80: The Waxahatchee x DRTI Interview!
A chat with Katie Crutchfield about Tigers Blood, country music and that Miranda Lambert song with her name on it
Dec 17, 2024

https://www.dontrocktheinbox.com/p/issue-80-the-waxahatchee-x-drti-interview?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=115265&post_id=153045067&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=4iue&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email