Katie Crutchfield’s Waxahatchee project has released their latest EP, Great Thunder, via Merge Records. The six-song collection follows last year’s full-length album Out in the Storm and takes a softer approach to Crutchfield’s singularly poignant indie rock, with single “Chapel of Pines” characterized by acoustic guitars and mellower vocals. “I would say that it is a complete 180 from the last record: super stripped-down, quiet, and with me performing solo, it’s a throwback to how I started,” Crutchfield said in a statement. Although the EP is a new release, its songs were written around the time of two earlier Waxahatchee records: 2013’s Cerulean Salt and 2015’s Ivy Tripp. Additionally, the title Great Thunder is a callback to the name of one of Crutchfield’s old bands.
Coming in at just under 20 minutes, the new EP was produced by Crutchfield herself with Brad Cook (The War on Drugs, Hiss Golden Messenger) at Justin Vernon’s studio in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Crutchfield is currently on a solo tour of the United States; she’ll join up with Courtney Barnett and Kevin Morby later this year. Review the full slate of Waxahatchee concert dates at the Merge website and listen to the new Great Thunder EP below.
