Waxahatchee: Saint Cloud (Merge)
Verdict: Candid pop from a rising star
EOB Earth: (Polydor)
Verdict: Sideman steps up in style
Rating: 
Kati Crutchfield isn’t exactly a newcomer. The singer-songwriter — who performs under the alias Waxahatchee — has been building a cult following since releasing her debut album, American Weekend, eight years ago.
But it’s only now, as she issues her fifth, that she finds herself on the point of wider acceptance. She’s getting there the hard way, too.
Having developed a drink problem, she wrote her latest songs while addressing her demons and battling to become sober.
The upshot is a candid, concise album spiced with unflinching observations and brilliant melodic twists.
At 31, she’s also come full circle musically.
Raised in Birmingham, Alabama — where Waxahatchee Creek runs close to her childhood home — she remembers listening to the country-pop of Shania Twain as a youngster before discovering indie-rock and grunge when she and her twin sister Allison were in their teens.
The siblings went on to form a punk group called P. S. Eliot.
You can hear echoes of that rock and roll past on Saint Cloud.
Kati Crutchfield — who performs under the alias Waxahatchee — has been building a cult following since releasing her debut album, American Weekend, eight years ago
Tracks such as Witches and War pitch her southern vocal twang against chiming guitars.
Her lyrics, too, are tough and unsentimental and her sweet voice sometimes rises to a rasping soprano.
But, with nods to both Twain and veteran Americana songwriter Lucinda Williams, she also possesses a storytelling streak that owes a good deal to classic country.
Crutchfield made Saint Cloud with Bon Iver’s producer Brad Cook in New York and El Paso and it’s a record with a strong sense of place.
The title track, a piano ballad, contains a reference to the New York subway.
Arkadelphia is named after a street in her hometown.
The yearning love song Fire, ‘a personal pep talk’, was written on a road trip across the Mississippi, with the West Memphis skyline ‘on fire in the light of day’.
But Waxahatchee’s greatest strength lies in the way she dissects her deepest feelings while never forgetting the importance of a good tune.
The folk-tinged Lilac, about slipping back into her bad old ways, is confessional.
The Eye, taking its cue from her three-year relationship with fellow singer Kevin Morby, looks at the difficulties of being romantically involved with another artist: ‘Our feet don’t ever touch the ground, we run ourselves ragged town to town.’
But Saint Cloud is hopeful, too. Waxahatchee, now sober, writes with a novelist’s eye for detail and her songs — meticulously arranged with help from Detroit guitar band Donny Boon — never lapse into self-pity.
‘All of my records are turbulent and emotional,’ she says.
‘But this one feels like it has a little dose of enlightenment.’
For anyone tempted to investigate an emerging star in the current lockdown, Saint Cloud would be a good starting point.
Ed O’Brien has usually been portrayed as Radiohead’s ‘other’ guitarist, operating in the shadow of the mercurial Jonny Greenwood and singer Thom Yorke. Such a view does him a disservice.
His serene fretwork has always added softer textures, while his falsetto backing vocals were a vital ingredient on classic albums such as OK Computer. For him, the George Harrison role has been a good one.
With Radiohead on sabbatical, O’Brien, 52, is now stepping out alone. Working under the acronym EOB, he has come up with a solo debut that doesn’t stray far from the Radiohead mothership in its moodier, atmospheric moments but also surprises by embracing Latin music and euphoric dance.
Ed O’Brien has usually been portrayed as Radiohead’s ‘other’ guitarist, operating in the shadow of the mercurial Jonny Greenwood and singer Thom Yorke
Deep Days is built around a languid, Santana-like groove and Shangri-La, named after a stage at Glastonbury, is all syncopated funk rhythms.
Brasil, inspired by a stay in the country, is more electronic bossa nova than Rio carnival. Where Radiohead, for all their brilliance, can be peevish, Ed’s solo persona is warm-hearted and open.
There are occasional missteps. Banksters clumsily tackles the 2008 financial crash.
But, unlike most guitarists taking a solo turn, O’Brien can actually sing.
He pays a touching tribute to a late family member on Sail On and duets impressively with Laura Marling on Cloak Of The Night.
Ed, currently recovering from suspected coronavirus, says Earth could be the first instalment of a trilogy.
It certainly gives him some ideas worth taking further.
Ooh-la-la! Rod teams up with Rugby to brighten the gloom
The success of Andrea Bocelli’s online concert from the Duomo in Milan suggests that live-streaming will be a feature of music delivery for some time.
The Italian tenor and organist Emanuele Vianelli reached 2.8 million viewers live on Easter Sunday, and more than 35 million have since watched the duo on YouTube.
Singing with daughter Ruby via Instagram Live (pictured) Sir Rod rekindled his old beatnik spirit on Ooh-La-La and Dirty Old Town, while Ellis-Bextor donned sequins for her Kitchen Disco session
Closer to home, Gary Barlow’s afternoon Crooner Sessions duets continued to maintain a high standard, with Brian May playing guitar on The Beatles’ Get Back and Cliff Richard reviving his 1979 hit We Don’t Talk Anymore.
Barlow’s old Take That buddy Robbie Williams has also starred, with the pair clearly trying to outshine one another on their 2010 single Shame.
Rod Stewart and Sophie Ellis-Bextor have also joined the home streaming party.
Singing with daughter Ruby via Instagram Live (pictured) Sir Rod rekindled his old beatnik spirit on Ooh-La-La and Dirty Old Town, while Ellis-Bextor donned sequins for her Kitchen Disco session.
Having a full-size mirrorball in place boosted the feel-good spirit.
New releases
RON SEXSMITH: hermitage (Cooking Vinyl)
Rating: 
Playing almost every instrument himself for the first time, the Canadian singer sounds like a small child in a sweet shop on his 17th album.
His bass work is as busy as anything by Paul McCartney and his ballads — crafted with the discipline of Nilsson or Newman — are reliably classy.
Spring Of The Following Year finds him looking forward in testing times.
LIDO PIMENTIA: miss Colombia (Anti-)
Rating:
Colombian but based in Toronto, Pimienta won the 2017 Polaris Music Prize.
She is set for bigger things after an album that combines South American cumbia, dance and electronics.
Singing in Spanish, she calls her music ‘industrial reggaeton’, but there’s tenderness too, notably on the largely a capella tracks that bookend the album.
BENJAMIN GROSVENOR: Chopin Piano Concertos (Decca 485 0365)
Rating: 
Grosvenor brings out the differences between these two concertos: the ‘Second’ in F minor (actually the first to be written) more contained, the ‘First’ in E minor more expansive and the greater work.
The Royal Scottish National Orchestra musicians play nicely for their principal guest conductor Elim Chan.
Pianists of a bygone age used to overdose on the ‘poetry’ of Chopin but today we generally like to have the structure of a concerto respected.
Grosvenor’s performances are directly in the British tradition of respecting the poetic aspects but not wearing the heart on the sleeve, and his partnership with Chan is impressive.