What even is Waxahatchee now?
Katie Crutchfield is extraordinarily talented, don’t get me wrong. Whatever I ever say about them or the music they make, I never want the fact that they are ridiculously good at their job to be forgotten. Their songwriting skill is absolutely impeachable, I don’t think they’ve ever put their name to a song you’d rank below 6/10, they’re an obvious mentality monster whose mastery of their craft now has eight albums (plus other stuff. It’s hard to work out what counts) worth of hard evidence. She’s very good.
But what are they?
Waxahatchee are very good, they’re very talented, but what are they actually doing now that makes them special? Their talent at writing and performing country/Americana tinged indie rock is obviously unquestionable, but do they actually bring anything to the table that’s new, or just add more notable examples of the genre? Early Waxahatchee managed to marry these country influences and sensibilities to intimate acoustic rock, and the results were spectacular. Now, they have the resources to afford the kind of production and backing that existed on those old Lucinda Williams records that they were so influenced by and so… just do that? Crutchfield has the talent and now the resources to make the kind of records that Emmylou Harris made in the 1970s, and so… makes records that sound like they were made by Emmylou Harris in the 1970s. Impeccably well, and astonishingly well done, but… so what? We already have records that sound like they were made by Emmylou Harris in the 1970s. A lot of them were made by Emmylou Harris. In the 1970s. And the 1980s and 1990s, I guess. Emmylou Harris is still making records, and God bless them for that. I haven’t done the research though, maybe their modern records are produced by 100 gecs and they roll their eyes at near pastiches like ‘Tiger’s Blood’.
I guess the thing is, as an impossibly hip dude aged just (cough) 29 years old, I know next to nothing about the canon and lore of Lucinda Williams or Tom Petty. I’ve never even heard of Trisha Yearwood or Alan Jackson, whom Crutchfield also named as influences and I imagine both have albums where on the cover they’re wearing a cowboy hat and holding an acoustic guitar while glancing wistfully at the sunset. Do Waxahatchee now exist as a way to introduce people like me to music that we might not otherwise have heard? Perhaps. But I’ve heard enough of that music to know that I don’t especially like it. I was brought up in 1980s Manchester by a Fall/John Peel obsessed Dad and a Mum who die on the hill that Sandstorm by Darude is the best song ever. Mate, slide guitars bring me out in hives. But maybe a lot of Anthony Fantano obsessed nerds who read Pitchfork religiously (and will complain on Reddit when one’s album score doesn’t directly correspond to the other) might not have known so much about country/Americana, and now are being introduced to a style of music they actually adore, that is otherwise widely ignored by mainstream critics. Or maybe they grew up on this stuff too, always secretly loved it despite it never being cool, and are now being allowed to enjoy it by Waxahatchee. That’s what Waxahatchee are for. They’re a permission slip.
So, as I’ve explained, this album’s really good.
To be honest, it’s good in a similar way to how ‘Ehhthang Ehhthang’ by GloRilla is good. I know, I’m sick of the comparisons between the two as well, but hopefully Waxahatchee finishing one place higher will finally put those debates about who’s better to bed. Like GloRilla, I don’t think Waxahatchee is doing anything new here, I don’t think they’re necessarily adding to the genre or pushing the artform in any particular direction. This isn’t challenging or revolutionary at all, but it’s an extraordinarily pleasant listen. Also, peak behind the curtain time, both Waxahatchee and GloRilla were albums that were always on the precipice of not being included this year, but both records have innate qualities to them that make them undeniable.
Katie Crutchfield is, again, very talented. But this isn’t some sort of musical Olympics, we’re not judging people on their talents here. The undeniable quality of the songs is still enough to keep them here, but right now I don’t think Waxahatchee have ever been less interesting.
The Album Title As AI Image:
THE SIMPSONS DID IT!
Necessary Evil 
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