Waxahatchee - Great Thunder EP - Yellow Color Vinyl

Musician Katie Crutchfield, who is known for her ever-changing musical project Waxahatchee, has released a new EP called Great Thunder. The EP features a collection of songs that Crutchfield wrote with experimental recording group Great Thunder while she was also writing the Waxahatchee albums Cerulean Salt and Ivy Tripp. The original recordings have mostly been forgotten, but Crutchfield and producer Brad Cook decided to unearth and reimagine them at Justin Vernon’s April Base studio in Wisconsin. The process was cathartic for Crutchfield. After the critically acclaimed Out in the Storm album, Crutchfield wanted to take a sharp turn away from the more rock-oriented influences of her recent records towards her more folk and country roots. She describes the EP as “a complete 180 from the last record: super stripped-down, quiet, and with me performing solo, it’s a throwback to how I started.” Some of the songs on Great Thunder, like “Chapel of Pines” and “Singer’s No Star,” stayed the same and will be recognizable to those who are familiar with Crutchfield’s catalog. The closer, “Takes So Much,” was built back up on piano from the bones of the original version, surprising even the songwriter: “Until then, I didn’t realize how beautiful this song was.” During the recording process at April Base, Crutchfield became ill but decided to push through it, beautifully stretching her voice to its emotional limits.