Waxahatchee: Tigers Blood [ANTI]

Why you'll love it

Tigers Blood on Anti- is the record that earned Waxahatchee her first Grammy nomination, for Best Americana Album. Pitchfork named it Best New Album, and it spent five weeks atop the NACC chart.

About the album

Following up a breakthrough is a tricky business, and Katie Crutchfield and producer Brad Cook spent a while wondering how to follow Saint Cloud. The answer arrived in a hot streak of writing on tour in late 2022, and then in a harmony. Early in the sessions at Sonic Ranch in Texas, she sang "Right Back to It" with guitarist MJ Lenderman, and that blend became the sound of the whole record; he plays electric guitar on every song.

Spencer Tweedy drums, and Phil Cook fills the corners with Dobro, banjo, organ and piano. "Right Back to It" is a love song she wanted gritty and unromantic, "Bored" kicks up country dust, "365" leans toward pop, and the title track closes things in a slow glow. In between, Crutchfield writes about late-night fights, frayed friendships and a past that may have been rosier in memory than in fact, on "3 Sisters," "Evil Spawn" and "Crimes of the Heart."

AllMusic called it an album that feels familiar on the surface and idiosyncratic in its details. Crutchfield says it came together much more easily than Saint Cloud, which is the sort of thing we'd love to hear more often from the people who put up our shelves.

Also at Kops: more Waxahatchee on vinyl · browse Alternative

Tracklist

Listen

On Anti- (cat# 87860-1), the 2024 album.