Waxahatchee – Cerulean Salt

On her debut full-length as Waxahatchee last year, American Weekend, Katie Crutchfield delivered some intimate alt-country/folk.  So what else isn’t new, you might say (she’s also, yes, from Brooklyn).  With this year’s follow-up Cerulean Salt, she expands her sound – even if she never blows up.

There are still stripped-down songs on Salt that just see Crutchfield and her acoustic guitar (“Swan Dive”, “You’re Damaged”), but more remarkable is when she mixes that with your fuzzy indie-rock sound.  “Coast To Coast” is catchy like good Breeders (QRO live review), while “Lively” nicely mixes stripped & fuzzy moments.  And even when intimate, it can be interestingly unaffected, on “Blue Pt. II”.  The record often feels like Crutchfield is going to blow up her sound at any moment, the quiet before the storm kind of thing, but she never does – whether you like that or not depends on the listener.

Cerulean Salt is still very much in the ‘solo singer/songwriter’ vein, with a sound that’s mostly smaller than her band’s name.  But Crutchfield is growing.