The recent Rilo Kiley reunion has been a total joy for fans like myself and as they are one of Katie and Allison Crutchfield’s formative influences, it was lovely to read the post about them traveling to see the shows together.
Waxahtachee also supported Rilo on some dates and Katie ended up singing with Jenny too, which was incredibly sweet.
Rilo’s reunion and listening to this excellent album makes me hope we might even have a noughties indie rock revival on our hands.
Katie has moved away somewhat from her indie rock roots recently with her more twangy Waxhatchee albums. She hasn’t even been playing those early songs live since she’s made the switch towards Americana. Allison has also been working behind the scenes for Anti records.
The last time the sisters played in a band together the music leaned punk so it’s wonderful to have an album that feels lighter, more classic indie pop. If you’re like myself and find Wednesday too screamy to be really loveable here’s a breezier, less intense indie album.
‘I could never just coast,’ they sing on the brilliant opening song. The crunchy guitars are very Rilo-esque. Fantastic. This one and second track Heathcliff are mainly sung and wholly written by Allison and she shows herself to be a match to her sister’s songwriting skills.
Wasteland and Hide are both written by Katie and have a more downbeat tone. The latter song echoes ‘Fade’ which was the closer and one of my favourites on her excellent Out in the Storm album.
Brand New City and Over our Heads have a sweet, 80s, jangle pop vibe which sounds so, so good. Cherry Hard Candy is another catchy classic from Katie – some of these could easily fit into her Waxahatchee setlist too. I’m loving the Tennessee Williams references in the grungy ‘Doom’ too.
The stand out track for me is You in Rehab. I love twee indie songs about sad things and here’s a perfect one. The sisters have shared in a recent Oxford American article the difficulties they have faced dealing with their other sister’s addiction. So there’s something honest and quietly hopeful about including this song here to close the album.
The twins are playing some select live shows at the moment, playing a variety of different tunes from across their back catalogue. While Snocaps may just be a side project, this album is such high quality it deserves to be taken seriously. All in all another brilliant example of the talent of the Crutchfield family.
Highway Queens 
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