Waxahatchee – "Fire"
With 2017’s Out In The Storm, Waxahatchee’s Katie Crutchfield topped herself yet again with a roaring collection songs worthy one the best projects to come out the last decade. She revisited some older songs for 2018’s lovely Great Thunder EP, and in March, Waxahatchee will release their fifth full-length album.
It’s called Saint Cloud, and Crutchfield wrote the songs after committing to getting sober. Naturally, Saint Cloud is a potent examination the behavior that springs from addiction and what it can feel like to be truly in tune with yourself. Crutchfield recorded Saint Cloud at Sonic Ranch in Tornillo, TX, and Long Pond in Stuyvesant, NY, and it was produced by Brad Cook .
Its lead single, “Fire,” is about straddling between borders — physically, the border between Tennessee and Arkansas (as Crutchfield explains below) but also emotionally. It’s groovy and intricately layered and warm, unlike anything Crutchfield has put out with this project before. “If I could love you unconditionally, I– / Could iron out the edges the darkest sky,” she sings. “For some us, it ain’t enough.”
Crutchfield returns to that physical border in the video for “Fire.” Here’s her statement about the song:
The idea and melody for ‘Fire’ was dreamt up while driving over the Mississippi River from Memphis into West Memphis, AR, sun reflecting f the water which literally made West Memphis glow. The song’s written by me, to myself. It’s about the internal dialogue shame surrounding mistakes you’ve made in the past and how we spiral and beat ourselves up when we slip. It’s meant to be a bit a personal pep talk. If I can love myself unconditionally, then I can move through the world a little easier. If I can accept that I only have a partial view the universe, and that I can’t know everything or control much anything, then I can breathe a little easier, take better care myself, and be closer to my own truth.
Watch and listen below.
TRACKLIST:
01 “Oxbow”
02 “Can’t Do Much”
03 “Fire”
04 “Lilacs”
05 “The Eye”
06 “Hell”
07 “Witches”
08 “War”
09 “Arkadelphia”
10 “Ruby Falls”
11 “St. Cloud”
TOUR DATES:
4/10 Detroit, MI @ Jam Handy *
4/11 Pittsburgh, PA @ Rex Theater *
4/14 Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer *
4/15 Holyoke, MA @ Gateway City Arts *
4/16 Boston, MA @ Royale
4/17 Providence, RI @ Columbus Theatre *
4/18 Brooklyn, NY @ Elsewhere ^
4/19 Brooklyn, NY @ Elsewhere ~
4/23 Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club *
4/24 Saxapahaw, NC @ Haw River Ballroom *
4/25 Nashville, TN @ Mercy Lounge *
4/26 Atlanta, GA @ Terminal West *
4/27 Birmingham, AL @ Saturn *
4/29 Baton Rouge, LA @ Spanish Moon *
4/30 Houston, TX @ The Satellite *
5/01 Dallas, TX @ Sons Hermann Hall *
5/02 Austin, TX @ Scholz Garten *
5/04 Tucson, AZ @ Club Congress +
5/07 Pioneertown, CA @ Pappy and Harriet’s +
5/08 Los Angeles, CA @ First Congregational Church LA +
5/09 San Francisco, CA @ The Castro Theatre
5/10 Sonoma, CA @ Gundlach Bundschu Winery +
5/12 Portland, OR @ The Old Church +
5/13 Portland, OR @ Aladdin Theater +
5/14 Vancouver, BC @ Christ Church Cathedral +
5/15 Seattle, WA @ The Neptune Theatre +
5/20 Maquoketa, IA @ Codfish Hollow Barn
5/21 Minneapolis, MN @ Fine Line Music Cafe *
5/22 Madison, WI @ Majestic Theatre *
* w/ Ohmme
^ w/ Radiator Hospital
~ w/ Bonny Doon & Shamir
+ w/ Mirah
Saint Cloud is out 3/27 Merge Records. Pre-order it here.