The sonic equivalent of flicking the Vs to all that’s getting you down.
Any
Waxahatchee fans longing for the same sparse, delicate indie folk lullabies as heard on 'Ivy Trip' and its predecessors are in for a (mostly) good surprise when it comes to '
Out in the Storm'.
"'Out in the Storm' digs into what I was going through without blinking. It’s a very honest record about a time in which I was not honest with myself," says Crutchfield. Indeed, nowhere is this more apparent than in the record’s typically heartfelt lyrics and atypically noisy instrumentation. It’s as if 'Out in the Storm' is the heated counterpart to 'Ivy Trip', the righteous anger that comes after the heartache of a break up, the burn that gets you through the other side of an ended relationship.
If '
American Weekend' and '
Cerulean Salt' were Waxahatchee’s lonely reflections and introspective efforts, then 'Out in the Storm' is Crutchfield’s moment to confront that which she has previously musically side-stepped with a sound that is as fecund as her outpourings. Tracks like ‘
Sparks Fly’ and ‘
Brass Beam’, for example, in which vocal layering, thick harmonisation and reflective lyrics that allow Crutchfield to tell us, "I see myself through my sister’s eyes", speak volumes for the benefits of healing through community and support networks.
