Full disclosure: I probably would have passed on writing a review for this genre of music were it not tied to my commitment to RC Team Battle Royale, and most importantly, my team's album selection. Choosing not to listen to this album would have been a disservice to me.
Waxahatchee's Tigers Blood is a nice change of pace from the style of music to which I typically listen, and has given me a newfound appreciation for alt-country Americana (is this an accurate description of the genre?). Firstly, I was very impressed by Katie Crutchfield's voice. Her vocals are beautiful, soft, and rich. The strong songwriting and lyrics alongside Crutchfield's incredible vocals created deeply evocative and powerful songs. A few standouts for me were "Crowbar," "365," "Crimes of the Heart," "Right Back to It." Tigers Blood also featured simple, yet effective stringed instrumentation throughout. The guitar work at the end of "The Wolves" and the banjo-forward melody of "Lone Star Lake" are particularly good at delivering a sense of place, both geographically and emotionally, in her music. Additionally, I thought that the songs' lengths were ideal for my limited attention span, which made the album very easy to consume.
While I felt generally positive about the entire track list, "Bored" felt like an outlier. Thematically the song is on par with other songs, but in terms of style and arrangement it leaned more rock than country. Not a bad song, but perhaps better suited for a different project.
Overall, I was pleasantly surprised that I liked this album as much as I did. It was a satisfying experience for a genre I typically detest. While I don't think that I'll be playing this record on repeat, I have certainly gained interested in exploring Waxahatchee's catalog.
4 out of 5 Crimes of the Heart
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