Review: Waxahatchee - Tigers Blood
Read it on AlbumOfTheYear: https://www.albumoftheyear.org/user/bristermitten/album/841361-tigers-blood/
Waxahatchee has a genuinely impressive ability to simultaneously enthral me and get on my nerves, which I think solidifies my love for this album. Just like any love, sometimes it's frustrating and grating and annoying, but I'll always choose to come back to it.
The lead single Right Back to It was the first song I heard from this album and I think it will remain in my top 5 songs of all time for a very long time. It's a beautiful, almost-perfect song and for which my only criticism is that the second half can get a little repetitive. I could write a whole essay about how much I love this song but I'll limit myself to my favourite part: Katie's vocal performances in the verses. The small variations in the flow of the music are really captivating and the way she bends the pitch of certain words (eg "around" in the second verse") makes the performance so interesting and moving.
On the other hand, I'm sorry but I can't make myself like 365. I find it very uninteresting and almost annoying (as previously mentioned) with how abruptly it starts. The high pitched wails are quite off-putting without any strong backing track to compliment them, as I really enjoy them in every other song.
The rest of the album is generally very good, but as I said at the beginning can occasionally get a little irritating. The last (titular) song, Tigers Blood is probably my second favourite on the album and again features some really beautiful harmonies.
The writing is excellent on this album, with some incredibly beautiful metaphors and imagery. A lot of the time I genuinely don't know what it's supposed to mean but it sounds cool as hell and I think that's what matters. Crowbar is one of my favourite examples of this - it's genuinely unclear what a lot of the lyrics mean but it still manages to convey enough emotional meaning that the specifics aren't important.
Yeah this album is really good I love it
Favourite tracks: Right Back to it, Lone Star Lake, Crowbar, The Wolves, Tigers Blood
Least favourite tracks: 365, 3 Sisters