On the American singer-songwriter’s fifth album, Saint Cloud, luscious melodies are undercut by a lingering unease, sentimentality by steeliness.
She embraces the messiness of growing up and taking responsibility for one’s actions and composes the apex of everything she’s accomplished thus far. Saint Cloud offers us the best possible version of Crutchfield she could possibly give us.
The tumult and churn of Out in the Storm must now feel worth it: this stunningly pretty ode to recovery is Crutchfield’s finest work, and possibly her masterpiece.
Saint Cloud offers guidance, accepting that not even something we idolise and long for in society is perfect, in most cases it is messy, complicated and difficult, whilst still hinting that it may all be worth it.
Saint Cloud is a refreshing listen from an exceptional singer-songwriter that shatters the myth of hard-living artists and proves that great artists can make great art without a drink.
Saint Cloud, like Car Wheels, finds an artist operating at the top of her game, embracing, as Crutchfield put it, "the contradictions and the unknown" to produce a thrilling and inspirational work.
‘Saint Cloud’ is the rousing of a regenerated spirit that chronicles not just the journey but the revelations of love, life and death that comes with it. A very special album indeed.
‘Saint Cloud’ is the refreshed, reformed and matured Waxahatchee – and it’s glorious.
Saint Cloud is the sound of Katie Crutchfield at her most conscious, comfortable and controlled.
She’s as lucid as we’ve ever heard her, stripping down to her emotional core and daring us to make eye contact.
Saint Cloud marks Crutchfield’s evolution from gifted songwriter into masterful storyteller, standing shoulder to guitar-slung shoulder beside Lucinda Williams and Linda Ronstadt, Emmylou Harris and Dolly Parton. It is the sound of the rainbow that follows the storm.
With a shift in tone and tempo, Katie Crutchfield creates a vivid modern classic of folk and Americana. It’s the sound of a cherished songwriter thawing out under the sun.
Adopting a free and easy Americana style marked by both twangy guitars and dreamy keys, the songs here are at once deeply intimate and broadly accessible, like selections from an alternative universe where modern mainstream country radio isn’t all pandering, homogenized slop.
An elemental voice for our weary souls, Saint Cloud marks a moment of reckoning for Katie Crutchfield, aka Waxahatchee.
Saint Cloud documents a journey towards self-acceptance; one woman’s reckoning with her past and its impact on the people she loves.
Especially in these trying times, records like this one are crucial to remind us of the universality of the human experience: pain, love, loss, forgiveness, endings and – most importantly – beginnings.
On her latest album Saint Cloud, the 31-year-old songwriter trades in the indie-rock neurosis of her previous work for a mellower, twangy sound that nods towards her roots in Birmingham, Alabama. But her piercing observations have only grown sharper with time.
While her output as Waxahatchee has always been brave, this album possesses a new kind of strength.
It’s the sound of a woman at peace with herself, and Crutchfield’s newfound serenity makes for a wonderful listen.
It’s her most consistently engaging album, with a rustic charm delivered by her sharp songwriting and choice of backup band, which consists of a strong cohort of experienced country-rockers.
‘Saint Cloud’ feels like the validation of a decade of supremely beautiful songwriting and is the work of someone newly at peace with themselves and assured in the quality of their beautifully exquisite songs.
Even as Crutchfield pushes her voice in her most beguiling melodic hooks yet, her words explore ongoing restlessness. The sense of warmth and uplift is all in the music, rich with bright chords and hooks, pulling her forward even as she sings of feeling pulled back.
This utterly beautiful balm of a record feels less like a confessional, and more a vessel for warmth, serenity and worldly wisdom.
With Saint Cloud, Katie Crutchfield (as Waxahatchee), has twisted a thick braid of an album, each song a bundle of strands interweaving with the next.
Distinctly quieter than her previous work, the Americana-tinged reflections act as a huge step-change for Waxahatchee and the record is all the stronger for it.
This album has a bloodied, ambitious heart on its sleeve. It wants the world to hear it beating.
Saint Cloud is an underwhelming take on indie country.