Kacey Musgraves offers clear-eyed candor as she explores a 'Deeper Well'
Always more progressive than her current country peers, Kacey Musgraves is also celebrated for her refusal to trade authenticity for success.
That commitment is even more devout on “Deeper Well,” her fifth studio album out Friday that feels as if Musgraves had the Time-Life Music “Sounds of the Seventies” collection on repeat.
This is not a negative assertion.
In the 11 years since her outstanding debut album, “Same Trailer, Different Park,” Musgraves has dabbled in psychedelic pop ― her last album, 2021’s “Star-Crossed”― and deftly merged country with yacht rock on her 2019 Grammy album of the year winner, “Golden Hour.”
A shift toward country-folk-soft rock on “Deeper Well” feels right ― and yes, genuine ― as Musgraves, 35, matures and continues self-exploration with cleareyed honesty.
Despite recording at New York’s famed Electric Lady Studio – sometimes working in the room that served as Jimi Hendrix’s bedroom – “Deeper Well” has the vibe of contemplative woods and placid streams.
These are some of the best among the 14 songs on the album.
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‘Cardinal’
The album’s opening track is a study in signs ― what we tell ourselves, what we choose to see ― following the loss of someone. Musgraves’ poetry about seeing the title bird after the death of a friend and the comfort she feels in its presence is deeper than a mere rumination on reincarnation. The midtempo song chugs along pleasantly until its ethereal bridge finds Musgraves’ wondering if the bird “has some kind of magic to bring?” Admit it. You’ve been there, too.
‘Deeper Well’
It’s the album’s title song and its longest, at just under four minutes. But Musgraves packs plenty of sugar-coated barbs into that economical space as she’s “saying goodbye to the people who are real good at wasting my time” without regret or remorse. She’s ditching the dark energy for self-preservation, giving up the bong that greeted her every morning and embarking on a new life path with candor and strength.
‘Too Good to Be True’
Musgraves has always been a forthright songwriter who never shied from open-hearted lyrics. Here, her vulnerability is palpable as she sings the simple message, “be good to me and I’ll be good to you.” But there is a hint of skepticism in her tone, suggesting that Musgraves is well aware that maybe the good things really are too good to be true. A lulling cadence pushes the song, and if the chorus sounds familiar, it contains an interpolation of Anna Nalick’s 2004 hit, “Breathe (2 AM).”
‘Anime Eyes’
Many dreamy choruses are peppered throughout "Deeper Well." But on “Anime Eyes,” Musgraves uses her chorus as a Trojan horse, loping along pleasantly until an unexpected detour into a swirling bridge that offers a mixing bowl of topics cataloged by Musgraves: rainbows, lightning bolts, ugly crying and angels singing, among them. Then the song turns even softer as it ushers the listener out on a cloud of sound.