Kacey Musgraves is embracing simplicity on her new album “Deeper Well”
Originally published in Middlebury College’s Campus
On her highly anticipated 5th studio album, Kacey Musgraves is celebrating the simplicity of life. After she charmed the world with her lovestruck enchantment on “Golden Hour”, and then the pain of the end of a previously-deemed perfect relationship on her divorce album “Star-Crossed”, “Deeper Well” feels like a closing of an unintentional trilogy. Co-written and co-produced by Musgraves herself, along with longtime collaborators Ian Fitchuk and Daniel Tashian, this latest album gives recognition to the life events that inspired her last two albums, whilst moving into a safer, securer, and simpler time. Heavily fuelled by pretty guitar-picking and simplistically stunning lyricism, this album feels like a period of re-growth, like the coming of spring – and after a long winter, there’s maybe nothing more healing.
I reckon you’d be hard-pressed to find someone who didn’t fall head-over-heels in love with the 2019 Album of The Year winning “Golden Hour”. The country-pop record infused with some fun electropop elements has easily made its way into my list of all-time favourite albums. The follow-up to this, “Star-Crossed”, continued with her classic genre-bending production, but leaned slightly more towards a pop-focused sound. A product of her divorce from fellow country singer-songwriter Ruston Kelly, the semi-concept album dipped into the story of Romeo and Juliet, and perhaps was missing some of country-Kacey’s charm. With “Deeper Well”, she seems to have found the balance between the two: a sound balance, lyrical balance, and personal balance.
This album kicks off with one of the record’s highlights. “Cardinal” is a beautiful track that could have blossomed out of 70s Laurel Canyon, Musgraves asks for the meaning behind the signs, looking for the answers in the simplicity and immensity of nature: ‘Cardinal, Are you bringing me a message from the other side?’ – a question that could sum up the album. If someone told me this was a Fleetwood Mac song lost to time, I would believe them in a heartbeat. The bridge celebrates Musgraves’ transcendent vocals, with harmonies reminiscent of a “California Dreamin’” sound before launching back into its 70s drumbeat. Followed up by another genius piece of songwriting, the endlessly-pretty title track “Deeper Well” is decorated throughout with guitar picking and pushed forward by a steady gentle drumbeat, whilst Musgraves gracefully expresses her satisfaction with the place she is in.
This album would comfortably fall into the country-folk category, but there are sonic reminders that it was recorded in New York City. “Giver/Taker” makes a nod towards the country-pop production that’s often-characterised Musgraves’ music. As the mildly-mellowed synths kick in after the first verse, and the drums sweep in in the second verse, this song is reminiscent of a “Golden Hour” highlight. Followed up by the semi-tropical vibes of “Sway”, we’re given a quick call-back to the diversely-popified sound of “Star-Crossed”. A celebration of her gorgeously restrained vocal abilities, the swaying harmonies and alt-pop production send the listener off to the peaceful island she sings about.
“Dinner With Friends”, holds an element of nostalgia, opening with a piano melody and diving into lyrics about being in cities you don’t live in and the “intimate convos” that can last all night when you’re with ‘your people’. Despite quite a modern sound, lyrics on this are the closest we get to very early country-Kacey days: “My home state of Texas, the horses and dogs, but none of their laws” examples her unparalleled skill of weaving the mundane with the political – the quiet with the conversation.
There are a couple of less memorable tracks. The unusually breathy country-pop “Lonely Millionaire” features a catchy hook about money not buying happiness, but the change in sound feels a little disjointed. “Heaven Is” is a simple fingerpicking fuelled melody that holds moments of classic-country songwriting that wouldn’t feel out of place in the days of the Carter Family: ‘nobody knows where we go when we die, maybe we ride white horses in the sky’. A nice song for the just-under 3 minutes it plays, but not an album highpoint. However, this is still Kacey Musgraves, even a lower ranked song stands its ground against some of the other contemporary releases coming out of the country world.
What might initially feel a little underwhelming for an album closer, on “Nothing To Be Scared Of” Musgraves is leaving us with a reminder to accept what comes our way with open arms; whether it’s love or loss, “there is nothing to be scared of”. If something is meant to be, it will be, and perhaps the beautifully simple lyric of “if a train is meant for me, it won’t leave the station” is the best way to end an album like this one.
A word to sum up this album is ‘contentment’, Musgraves has moved past the spectacular and all-consuming love of “Golden Hour” and the heartbreak of “Star-Crossed” to a place of quiet reflection, peace and pretty guitar. There are small glimpses of the scars that her life experiences left her with as she sings about “worrying that I might drive the nail into the coffin” in a new relationship, but these are seamlessly woven into lyrics about the healing-powers of nature. I do hope that one day we see Musgraves return to the clever, witty and slick lyricism of her earliest country hits – but for now, we can share in the calmness and tranquillity her effortless vocals have brought to “Deeper Well”. As spring is slowly making its appearance, this album is the perfect addition to the blessing of the sun shining through your window in the morning. Paired with her two previous albums, “Deeper Well” closes a trilogy from one of country’s most skilled songwriters, capturing a personal journey through love, loss and acceptance, assumingly not purposeful, but maybe all the more authentic because of it.
