Starting to think new release day was definitely one for the girlies - between the new Waxahatchee and Adrianne Lenker coming out plus Kacey and Faye holding strong in our top 10!

Joining her this time, on guitars and backup vocals, is the Asheville singer-songwriter MJ Lenderman, whom Crutchfield first invited to contribute to lead single “Right Back to It” and then asked to stay for the duration. You can hear why. Over Phil Cook’s banjo on “Right Back to It,” Lenderman and Crutchfield sound like their own version of Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, lifelong musical partners instead of first-time collaborators. Like most indie rock artists in the 2020s, Lenderman’s music enjoys an easy affinity with roots-rock tempos and temperatures, and his rangy harmonies slot neatly behind Crutchfield’s voice across multiple songs. - Pitchfork

Two songs on Adrianne Lenker’s Bright Future begin with the woosh of a tape machine settling into its correct speed. The players sometimes murmur among themselves as a song gets going or winds down; Lenker’s voice occasionally grows distant, as though she were turning away from the mic, then rises in volume as she leans forward again. At first blush, these audible moments of calibration signal a certain old-school authenticity. The Big Thief singer-songwriter cut her new album straight to tape, just like the last one, and it has the air of an unadulterated document of the music as it was performed in the studio. - Pitchfork