{"id":357424,"date":"2025-11-05T12:33:12","date_gmt":"2025-11-05T12:33:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/357424\/"},"modified":"2025-11-05T12:33:12","modified_gmt":"2025-11-05T12:33:12","slug":"crutchfield-family-reunion-is-a-fabulously-melodic-indie-rock-celebration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/357424\/","title":{"rendered":"Crutchfield family reunion is a fabulously melodic indie-rock celebration"},"content":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s this one Bruce Springsteen<\/a> quote that your therapist probably loves. It\u2019s about a car, filled with all the people you used to be. \u201cA new self can get in, but the old selves can\u2019t ever get out,\u201d he said. On their first album as Snocaps<\/a>, the Crutchfield sisters locate a seam of optimism that runs beneath this idea, reconnecting with their formative creative relationship while also celebrating all the ways they\u2019ve grown and changed while apart.<\/p>\n

In the decade and a half since they walked away from P.S. Eliot, the rickety punk band that first introduced them to the world, the twins have almost evolved in parallel, working together on and off while striking out to develop their own individual styles. Here, they wed the uber-melodic indie-rock of Allison\u2019s work with Swearin\u2019 to the winsome Americana of Katie\u2019s recent records with Waxahatchee<\/a>, finding that the sibling chemistry that fired their earliest thrashings has only become more nuanced and effective over time.<\/p>\n

In tandem with multi-tasking bandmates MJ Lenderman<\/a> and Brad Cook \u2013 both close collaborators on Waxahatchee\u2019s excellent 2024 LP \u2018Tigers Blood\u2019<\/a> \u2013 they deliver songs that are warm and unfussy while accentuating the sisters\u2019 complementary strengths: Allison\u2019s way with a winding hook, Katie\u2019s patient, quietly dramatic vocal patterns. Both sound just grand with Lenderman chooglin\u2019 off to one side, with Snocaps\u2019 largely bare-bones guitar, bass, drums setup giving plenty of room for some quietly impressive arrangements to breathe.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

There\u2019s the Katie-fronted slow-burn \u2018Doom\u2019 \u2013 a song that feels big and sonically weighty without ever seeming calculated \u2013 sitting next to the mile-a-minute melodies of Allison\u2019s \u2018Over Our Heads\u2019, its fastidious writing perfectly undercut by a loping Camper Van Beethoven slacker vibe.<\/p>\n

\u2018Heathcliff\u2019, all Go-Betweens jangle and picked bass, has a hook that seems to grow legs with each new syllable, recalling some of the best moments on Allison\u2019s underrated 2017 solo outing \u2018Tourist In This Town\u2019. On the ensuing \u2018Wasteland\u2019, Katie throws some laconic alt-country grit at a refrain every bit as intriguing as the one that came before it.<\/p>\n

Snocaps will play some shows before the year is out and then disappear, maybe for good. In many ways, that\u2019d be the perfect ending to this particular chapter in the Crutchfields\u2019 story. They have built a rep in modern indie-rock \u2013 both together and apart \u2013 that affords them this sort of diversion, like R.E.M.<\/a> backing Warren Zevon for a few months in the mid-\u201980s or Kim Deal<\/a> making \u2018Pacer\u2019 with the Amps instead of kicking on with the Breeders. Part of this brilliant record\u2019s charm is its potential to be a low-stakes, high-quality one-off \u2013 a curio waiting to be discovered somewhere along the way.<\/p>\n

Details<\/strong><\/p>\n

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