Waxahatchee announces new LP 'Saint Cloud' & tour, shares "Fire"

January 22, 2020

Waxahatchee, whose 2013 album Cerulean Salt we called one of the best albums of the 2010s, has now announced a new album, her first since 2017’s Out In the Storm. It’s called Saint Cloud, and a press release notes that it was “written immediately in the period following [main member Katie Crutchfield’s] decision to get sober,” and that it finds Waxahatchee moving away from the grungier sounds of her last album towards something with more of a folk and country influence. It was produced by Megafaun’s Brad Cook (Bon Iver, Hiss Golden Messenger, etc), who also worked on Waxahatchee’s 2018 Great Thunder EP, and Katie’s backing band for this album includes two members of Bonny Doon (Bobby Colombo and Bill Lennox), frequent The National collaborator Josh Kaufman, and Nick Kinsey of Kevin Morby’s band.

The first taste is “Fire,” which does show off a little of that folk/country influence but in a different, grander way than the intimate folky tracks from early on in Waxahatchee’s careerr. Katie says:

The idea and melody for “Fire” was dreamt up while driving over the Mississippi River from Memphis into West Memphis, AR, sun reflecting off the water which literally made West Memphis glow. The song’s written by me, to myself. It’s about the internal dialogue of shame surrounding mistakes you’ve made in the past and how we spiral and beat ourselves up when we slip. It’s meant to be a bit of a personal pep talk. If I can love myself unconditionally, then I can move through the world a little easier. If I can accept that I only have a partial view of the universe, and that I can’t know everything or control much of anything, then I can breathe a little easier, take better care of myself, and be closer to my own truth.

Listen and watch the video below. Saint Cloud comes out March 27 via Merge (pre-order).

Waxahatchee also announced a tour, with openers varying by date including Bonny Doon, as well as Shamir, Mirah, Radiator Hospital, and Ohmme.

Her tour hits Brooklyn’s Elsewhere on April 18 and 19 with Radiator Hospital on night one and Bonny Doon and Shamir on night two. Tickets for those shows go on sale soon. All dates are listed below.

Tracklist
1. Oxbow
2. Can’t Do Much
3. Fire
4. Lilacs
5. The Eye
6. Hell
7. Witches
8. War
9. Arkadelphia
10. Ruby Falls
11. St. Cloud

Waxahatchee — 2020 Tour Dates
4/10 – Detroit, MI @ Jam Handy *
4/11 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Rex Theater *
4/14 – Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer *
4/15 – Holyoke, MA @ Gateway City Arts *
4/16 – Boston, MA @ Royale
4/17 – Providence, RI @ Columbus Theatre *
4/18 – Brooklyn, NY @ Elsewhere ^
4/19 – Brooklyn, NY @ Elsewhere ~
4/23 – Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club *
4/24 – Saxapahaw, NC @ Haw River Ballroom *
4/25 – Nashville, TN @ Mercy Lounge *
4/26 – Atlanta, GA @ Terminal West *
4/27 – Birmingham, AL @ Saturn *
4/29 – Baton Rouge, LA @ Mid City Ballroom *
4/30 – Houston, TX @ The Satellite *
5/1 – Dallas, TX @ Sons of Hermann Hall *
5/2 – Austin, TX @ Scholz Garten *
5/4 – Tucson, AZ @ Club Congress +
5/7 – Pioneertown, CA @ Pappy and Harriet’s +
5/8 – Los Angeles, CA @ First Congregational Church of LA +
5/9 – San Francisco, CA @ The Castro Theatre
5/10 – Sonoma, CA @ Gundlach Bundschu Winery +
5/12 – Portland, OR @ The Old Church +
5/13 – Portland, OR @ Aladdin Theater +
5/14 – Vancouver, BC @ Christ Church Cathedral +
5/15 – Seattle, WA @ The Neptune Theatre +
5/20 – Maquoketa, IA @ Codfish Hollow Barn
5/21 – Minneapolis, MN @ Fine Line Music Cafe *
5/22 – Madison, WI @ Majestic Theatre *