Before Saint Cloud, the scale of Waxahatchee's music matched the intimate spaces they frequented—living rooms full of friends, small corner stages, crowded basement spaces with awkward plumbing. But on her 2020 album, which Katie Crutchfield recently estimated doubled the size of her audience, she burned off the fog from her arrangements and raised her voice. The resulting sound was closer to the spirit of Americana than late 90s indie rock.
Sometimes background changes can have surprising effects: Framed in this light, Crutchfield sounded a little more like her Lucinda Williams hero, the tang preceding her vocals. More crudely, it sounded like “star”, a cheap and transactional term that nevertheless describes a unique phenomenon. There were suddenly miles of emptiness around her, and nowhere to look but straight into her eyes.
Tigers Blood continues the work of clearing for this new, 8-foot-tall version of Crutchfield. Saint Cloud Producer Brad Cook returned, surrounding each instrument with a woolen ball of room tone as substantial as a piano's felt pads. Crutchfield's character from Saint Cloud she also returns a complex, hotly contested woman troubled by specific grievances. One of the most indelible hooks Saint Cloud came from a song called “Hell”, in which Crutchfield sang, “I'll put you through hell”. Her voice was sad and loving, convincing you both that she did exactly as she said and that for whoever her goal was, it was worth it.
Joining her this time, on guitars and backup vocals, is Asheville singer-songwriter MJ Lenderman, whom Crutchfield first invited to contribute to lead single “Right Back to It” and then asked to stay for the duration . You can hear why. Over Phil Cook's banjo on “Right Back to It,” Lenderman and Crutchfield sound like their own version of Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, lifelong musical collaborators instead of first collaborators. Like most indie rock artists of the 2020s, Lenderman's music enjoys an easy affinity with roots-rock rhythms and temperatures, and his heavy harmonies are nicely hidden behind Crutchfield's voice on many songs.
Most of Tigers Blood powered by the same acoustic guitar that ignited Saint Cloud, with the electric guitars relegated to playing either soft shuffles or spicy licks. These decorative fills punctuate Crutchfield's never-ending musings. Her mind is alive and buzzing, and her tongue jumps at you with her hunger. The recurring refrain of “Bred” — a song about trying and failing to hold still — is, simply, “I'm bored.” But the way Crutchfield sings the words sounds like a death sentence, and it's the only moment Tigers BloodThe 12 songs of which this warm voice tightens and weakens with fear.
