The Chicks - Gaslighter ALBUM REVIEW

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Hear me out on this: I’m not a modern country fan. I just don’t really see the appeal in it, and I like some of the older songs better. These days, country music has become very masculine. Grilling, drinking beer with the boys, and taking rides in big green tractors have been running rampant, but artists like Maren Morris, Miranda Lambert, and Carrie Underwood have been redefining the genre for the past couple years. Now, after being blacklisted by the music industry fourteen years ago for simply stating their political beliefs, country music royalty the Dixie Chicks are back with Gaslighter, a very revealing, raw, and undeniably human album. Let’s get into it.

Gaslighter is a country album with folk and pop influences. Jack Antonoff, a production titan, produced nearly all of Gaslighter, and having a name like that on a song is a huge deal, let alone a whole album. This whole album has a vibe of Lana del Rey and Phoebe Bridgers combined and with a country twang. The themes of divorce and “You hurt me, and I didn’t like that, but I will be strong” are all here and powerful, but it just seems to get a little old as the record goes on. From a sound and production point of view, this is one of the most beautiful sounding records this year, which is no surprise coming from Mr. Antonoff. The writing on this album is vulnerable yet extremely powerful, showing a truly civilized yet uncivilized approach to music since the Chicks’ own “Goodbye Earl.” I hope that makes sense to you because it did in my head.

I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I like, no, love a modern country album. For a longer-leaning project like Gaslighter, the production and sound never got stale, even if the writing and themes were slowly becoming that. If you’re a fan of Lana’s Americana style music, I think you’ll fit in right at home with the Americana-tinged Gaslighter. This is by far the best modern country album I’ve heard too. This could also be a contender for album of the year when I put out that list at the end of the year. If you can only listen to one country album this year, let it be Gaslighter.


9/10


Stream Gaslighter here

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