Released:
Rating:
This is the album of Allison Crutchfield’s life.
‘Album’ of ‘the Week’
Label: Merge
Released: 3rd February 2017
Rating: ★★★★
Allison Crutchfield has always been a prolific musician. From P.S Eliot and Bad Banana, her bands with sister Katie (aka Waxahatchee) to her own band Swearin’; Crutchfield has established herself as a true, vibrant punk rock talent. Those albums were collaboration, though. ‘Tourist In This Town’ is different. This is Allison Crutchfield pure and unadorned. This is her, and it’s a beautiful opening solo statement.
The album sees her developing her musical palette far beyond the punk rock template with which she broke through. Recorded with her band, Radiator Hospital’s Sam Cook-Parrot on bass and drummer Joey Doubak, it spans delicate indie pop, folk, inspiring torch songs like the stunning ‘Broad Daylight’ to the glorious Cure/New Order synth pop rush of ‘Dean’s Room’. These are by far the most vivid and dynamic set of songs of her career.
It’s a record rich in emotion and ambition borne out of troubled circumstances – relationships ending, careers and plans shifting. The result is full of emotion and incisive reflection, punctuated by short, sharp blasts of punk rock thrills that harken back to her previous work. This is the album of Allison Crutchfield’s life. Martyn Young
