Waxahatchee: Out in the Storm
Ever the formalist, Katie Crutchfield makes sure every line has a real melody, and she strums more expressively than just about anyone in indie bothers to these days. But this is the first time I’ve been convinced by her for a whole album, maybe including P.S. Eliot, and yeah it does mostly seem to come down to using more direct language (though there’s still a “behind sycophantic amends” here and there.) I’m not convinced it was entirely her ex’s fault and that her only mistake was putting up with his shit for so long, but that matters as little as it does for T. Swift. What does matter is that she’s subjectively better off without him and capable of expressing it. Twin Allison provides crucial support as an instrumentalist, a character, and a sister.
Grade: A (“Sparks Fly”, “8 Ball”, “Silver”)
St. Vincent: Masseduction
When Christgau wrote that “the smaller number who identify with her are deluding themselves — she’s a genius and they’re not, and she’s proud of it,” calling her a genius was only the fourth most weird thing about that sentence. That identification is a prerequisite for a deep connection to music can be disproved by listening to a Franco album or to Jack Antonoff’s noise-hooks here. That one can only identify with doppelgängers is not an idea worthy of the pluralists in New York or Los Angeles. And that having a different talent level might be the biggest barrier to identifying with someone who literally dates supermodels is cray-cray. This sex, drugs, and celebrity focus hasn’t resulted in widespread loss of cachet, a sign of social progress that backing vocalist Jenny Lewis must wish came ten years earlier. Moralists are undoubtedly assuaged by her nominal regret at having too much fun (Los Ageless! It’s kind of fake!) But her newfound commitment to seduction means she makes damn sure even the ballads are expressive enough to stick.
Grade: A MINUS (“Los Ageless”, “New York”, “Pills”)
Lucinda Williams: Down Where the Spirit Meets the Bone (2014)
She’s drifted so far from naturalism that to get anything from this record, one has to shrug and accept she’s just going to sing like that now. It doesn’t help that while her pan-genre all-star session dudes ain’t being boring, the outros run 30 seconds a song longer than is prudent. But as someone who holds her in high enough esteem to put up with her for two CDs of five-minutes-a-song (three years late), I find this a remarkably consistent double. She pulls off her M.O. of situating her descriptions of individual suffering in geographical reality better than she has since Car Wheels, with optimism becoming more tenable the more she zooms out. Though the two CDs of six-minutes-a-song of 2016’s Ghosts of Highway 20 was a little too optimistic.
Grade: A MINUS (“When I Look at the World”, “East Side of Town”, “West Memphis”)
Carly Pearce: Every Little Thing
Country-pop with a bit more emphasis on the former than fellow Busbee client Maren Morris. If she lacks the consistent melodic rush of Morris — let alone Old Taylor, RIP — she has the taste to put over the subtler features of her writing and her ringers’ (only two Shane McAnnally co-writes on this one, dude is slacking.) The usual subjects are approached analytically: if alcohol leads to regrettable decisions, why not hide the wine? If everybody’s gonna talk, why not let them talk? If Saving Country Music is going to pan you anyway, why not optimize your beats for airplay? That’s just smart, which I hear some people like.
Grade: A MINUS (“Hide the Wine”, “Everybody Gonna Talk”, “Honeysuckle”)
Arcade Fire: Everything Now
I can’t be sure I’m not making the opposite mistake to certain publications who predictably underrated this to make up for overrating the last one, but their occasional greatness had been reflekted far from my mind until the initial anthems on this one revived memories of Neon Bible. Win Butler has always provided a window into a certain brand of — are we allowed to say this word again — hipster anxiety that whatever its limitations as a worldview, at least means there are jokes and prevents him from deploying fake patois when he takes the band island hopping. And give the rhythm section credit for finally working out what the boss wants from them. Key to their career: “I’m a liar, don’t doubt my sincerity.”
Grade: B PLUS (“Creature Comfort”, “Everything Now”, “Infinite Content”)
ODDS & ENDS
Emperor X: Oversleepers International
Absurdly well-read, melodies just off-kilter enough to be interesting, seems like a good guy for explaining xkcd comics to you (“Schopenhauer in Berlin”, “Wasted on the Senate Floor”)
Body Count: Bloodlust
No really, it’s okay to listen to a metal album for the lyrics (“No Lives Matter”, “This Is Why We Ride”)
Jesca Hoop: Memories Are Now
On Sub Pop, so one song’s called “Animal Kingdom Chaotic”, but with folkie tendencies, so another’s called “Songs of Old,” and if there’s a hint of irony I missed it (“Pegasi”, “Memories Are Now”)
Spoon: Hot Thoughts
Your guess is as good as mine as to which songs are the Four Worth Keeping this time, but even if we’re both wrong, the stakes are, as they say, small (“Hot Thoughts”, “Can I Sit Next to You”)
The Afghan Whigs: In Spades
Can’t unleash like they used to, but they’ve found other ways to express commitment, so that for once they sound best when Dulli’s hitting his notes (“Oriole”, “Arabian Heights”)
