''Saint Cloud'' is the fifth studio album by American

indie rock Indie rock is a subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the music they produc ...

act

Waxahatchee Waxahatchee is an American indie music project, formed in 2010 by American singer-songwriter Katie Crutchfield (born 4 January 1989), previously a member of P.S. Eliot. The band is named after Waxahatchee Creek, in Alabama, where Crutchfield g ...

, released on March 27, 2020, by

Merge Records Merge Records is an independent record label based in Durham, North Carolina. It was founded in 1989 by Laura Ballance and Mac McCaughan. It began as an outlet for music from their band Superchunk and music created by friends, and has expande ...

Background

Waxahatchee frontwoman Katie Crutchfield described the album's main themes as "addiction and codependency". Much of ''Saint Cloud'' was inspired by her struggles with alcoholism, which came to a fore during the promotional tour for Waxahatchee's '' Out in the Storm'' (2017), and subsequent decision to get sober. Crutchfield titled the album and its titular song after her father's hometown of

St. Cloud, Florida St. Cloud is a city in northern Osceola County, Florida, United States. It is on the southern shore of East Lake Tohopekaliga in Central Florida, about southeast of Orlando. The population was 35,183 in the 2010 census, and 54,579 in the 2019 cen ...

, a small community outside of

Orlando Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures re ...

Critical reception

Robert Christgau reviewed the album in his

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-published "Consumer Guide" column in July 2020. While suggesting that the "recovery songs" toward the album's end recount life experiences not relatable for the average listener, he applauded Crutchfield's performance through the opening series of "love/relationship/self-knowledge songs", with "her guitar parts echoing readymades so approximately and unaffectedly they sound fresh all over again, her soft voice so casual and personable and smart".

Accolades

Track listing

Personnel

Musicians * Katie Crutchfield – vocals, acoustic guitar, piano, keyboards * Brad Cook – bass, acoustic guitar, piano, keyboards, synthesizer * Bobby Colombo – electric guitar, acoustic guitar, keyboards * Bill Lennox – electric guitar, acoustic guitar, keyboards, percussion, vocals * Nick Kinsey – drums, percussion * Josh Kaufman – electric guitar, piano, organ, percussion Technical personnel * Brad Cook – production * Jerry Ordonez – engineering * Jon Low – additional engineering, mixing * Brent Lambert – mastering Artwork * Molly Matalon – photos * Andreina Byrne – set production *

Mike Krol Michael Frederick Krol (born May 19, 1984) is an American musician and graphic designer based in Los Angeles, California. After releasing two albums on Counter Counter Culture, Krol released his third album ''Turkey'' on Merge Records August 28, ...

– design

Charts

References

{{Authority control 2020 albums Waxahatchee albums Merge Records albums