Kate Crutchfield unleashes her inner Americana on an album full of Country-Alt joy and beautiful musicianship. Before setting sail on her solo career, she joined forces with her twin sister, Allison. They formed P.S. Eliot, a band known for their fuzzy indie-rock with scrappy, homemade punk songs that filled college radios across the U.S.
Building on from that, Crutchfield slowly but surely began to build her solo career, and her debut under the moniker Waxahatchee (the name is taken from Waxahatchee Creek, in Alabama, where Crutchfield grew up) arrived to great fanfare in 2012.
Fast-forward twelve years and five albums later, and Tigers Blood arrives and elevates Crutchfield’s career. It is her best work to date. Whilst 2020’s Saint Cloud record was a sheer triumph in how beautiful, engaging, mature, and subtle her writing can be, Tigers Blood moves this up a gear and cuts loose with wild abandon.
The opening track ‘3 sisters’ is a prime example of how good this record is. There’s simplicity in its beauty, a four-chord structure that rolls around Crutchfield’s beautiful voice. A song wrapped around a troubled relationship fills the air with soul and longing and builds quite wonderfully. ‘Evil Spawn’ follows with a Country-Alt edge that reminds me a little of Drive-By Truckers. It’s loose and delightful.
Tigers Blood finds Crutchfield welcoming new collaborators into her world, most notably MJ Lenderman (singer-songwriter with three solo albums under his belt and also features in the band Wednesday). Lenderman plays on every song that features in the record, with the absolute stand-out being the duet on ‘Right Back To It’ there are nods plenty to Country duets like Emmylou Harris & Gram Parsons as the song swirls around the idea of a relationship falling into love and out of the drama and beyond the excitement of its formative beginnings. “you just settle in/like a song with no end/if I can keep up/we’ll get right back to it.”
‘Bored’ chimes in with some delightful pedal guitar. This record’s arrangements are wonderful and shine on this particular track. There are influences from Townes Van Zandt, while the lyrics continue to be earnest and honest. Crutchfield has a wonderful way of portraying her emotions and bringing those to the fore under beautiful, melancholic tones.
The most beautiful, heartfelt moment on Tigers Blood comes in ‘365’ Crutchfield is now six years sober, and this song draws in on addictions. “If you fly up beyond the cosmos, it’s a long way to fall back down,” she sings quite wonderfully whilst Lenderman plays a gentle, warm chord structure that levels the song out and keeps everything in check. It’s a stunning combination that taps into early R.E.M. quite superbly.
‘The Wolves’ continues those heartfelt moments through more heartbreak and intrigue, whilst ‘Evil Spawn’ leans into what happens when love is lost and how to remember the better times that once were.
Tigers Blood is more outward-looking than its predecessor. It is a record of someone getting sober, getting clean, and having a clearer state of mind than ever before. It deals with being in love with someone who still has addictions. It has maturity but still picks up that angsty zest of youth. It is Crutchfield’s best work to date, and I highly recommend letting it seep into your soul.
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