WAXAHATCHEE Kansas City, March 27

WHEN “Fire”, the lead single from Katie Crutchfield’s fifth album as Waxahatchee, was released way back in the beforetimes of January 2020, it had uncanny cut-through. It emerged out of new-year playlists and hype parades, and quietly, determinedly rooted its way into your head and heart, like a crocus piercing the early spring snow or a desert lilac creeping up through a crack in the sidewalk.

There was something familiar in Crutchfield’s spare, keening voice – an eerie, timeless lonesomeness you might have first heard on “Catfish”, the opening track of . Her debut album was, her fifth album, which ended up sixth on Best Of 2020 list.