The Chicks

Gaslighter

With slick, tasteful production from Jack Antanoff built around shining guitars and perfectly balanced vocal arrangements, this is a powerful addition to the genre.

The journey of Gaslighter is bolstered by the same strong group dynamic that put The Chicks on the map years ago, all through a lush but often dialed-back, new sound that ventures further into the pop realm.

It’s an arresting finish to an album so full of emotion, it takes a while to absorb it all. It’s not perfect, and it’s not meant to be. But the juxtaposition of slickness and rawness somehow works, making the kind of statement the Chicks have been working toward since they first sang of mattress dancing and offing that unfaithful Earl.

Gaslighter is bold and incendiary, finding the Chicks reclaiming their relevance. Thankfully, the Chicks rejected silencing as Gaslighter reestablishes their penchant for vocalizing raw truths.

Gaslighter is the best country album of 2020 because it forces empathy onto the listener while reminding us we don’t have to be superheroes to make a difference.

With Gaslighter, The Chicks wield both the scalpel and the microscope with equal skill. And they sure can sing.

Gaslighter may not have been the album that country music needed, but it’s clearly the one that the Chicks needed to make.

It's an inspiring, swift-footed return from a band who've always carried more than their fair share. With Gaslighter, the Chicks sound unburdened.

Still political, still resilient – if you were a fan of The Dixie Chicks back in 2006, then The Chicks are precisely who you hoped they would grow to be in 2020.

A straight-talking delight, ‘Gaslighter’ refuses to radically overhaul The Chicks’ sound, and that’s ultimately why it’s so successful. Retaining that fine balance between country and pop, it allows the three-piece space to be true to themselves, ably building on their storied catalogue.

The Chicks’ first long player in 14 years ... doubles down on the band’s outspokenness and their lived experience.

There’s less kitsch cowgirl and more of a strong statement, of feminism and the future.

There’s more going on here than a name change: the band’s trademark country-pop-with-attitude is fuelled by stories of rage and psychological abuse.

Gaslighter itself is filled with tangled, contradictory emotions, a place where vulnerability signals strength, and this complexity conveys how the Chicks have opened up a new chapter in their career. They've left behind their original name, their old connections, their old genre, and are firmly focused on the future.