Tigers Blood

Waxahatchee

Tigers Blood

INSTEAD-

March 21, 2024
Web Exclusive

By Mark Moody

He hangs out with producer Brad Cook from the Waxahatchee unveiling Saint CloudKatie Crutchfield continues to explore alt-country trails Tigers Blood. With the proverbial horse already out of the barn, the album feels less like a fresh start and more an affirmation of the comfort she finds in surrounding herself with those who share the same vernacular. MJ Lenderman, who toured Crutchfield with Jess Williamson as Plains, plays guitar throughout the album. But most importantly he lends a world-weary Appalachia air to the few tracks where he provides harmony vocals.

The lead single and album highlight, “Right Back to It,” benefits from Crutchfield's crystalline vocals, which are enhanced by Phil Cook's booming banjo and Lenderman's plaintive low register. It's an instant classic on par with Gillian Welch's best work with David Rawlings. The album's title track shares a similar dynamic and contains remnants of the sharp details that brought Saint Cloud in such sharp focus. “You laugh and smile, I drove my jeep through the mud, your teeth and tongue red with the blood of tigers,” brings vivid images, where many of Tigers Blood works in broader strokes.

Like her stock in trade, Crutchfield is just as adept at turning the spotlight on herself as she is on those around her. “The legendary baby of my failure,” he says in “Lone Star Lake,” but he might as well throw the barb out a few lines later: “a girl like that would bore you to tears.” Songs like “Crimes of the Heart” and “The Wolves” may not live up to Crutchfield's best, but the overall experience Tigers Blood she is a fertile one. The guitar licks on “Bored” and “Crowbar” provide a shot in the arm, with “Bored” having an almost charming playfulness brought on by the fast spoken lyrics. While the unadorned “365” highlights Crutchfield's voice as one of the strongest and most vulnerable in the indie world. Like the taste of snow with which it shares a name, Tigers Blood it's ultimately about fusing its constituent parts into something undeniably enticing rather than parsing its irremediably mixed emotions. (www.waxahatchee.com)

Author Rating: 7.5/10