Well Played: A Review of Kacey Musgraves’ Deeper Well
When you dive into Kacey Musgraves’ lovely folk-country album, Deeper Well, you’ll likely discover the singer/songwriter secure, but searching. After love (captured on the masterpiece that is 2018’s Golden Hour) and loss (poured out on 2021’s star-crossed) come self-healing, (personal and professional) lessons learned, even a few unanswered questions, all reflected on 14 sonically soothing, acoustic-centered tracks, with Musgraves’ angelic voice at the heart (of the woods).
Here, Musgraves is at her earthiest. Throughout the album, she and her writing team have incorporated references to the natural world and its inhabitants, the seasons and the afterlife: With the opener, “Cardinal,” the scarlet-red bird is seen as a messenger “from the other side” (an expression Musgraves also adds to “Dinner with Friends”). She also asks: “Are you just watching and waiting for spring?” With “Too Good to be True,” Musgraves musters the courage to open herself up to that foreshadowed new beginning (“Summer’s gone, but you’re still here/For both of us, it’s been a year”), yet subsequently on “Moving Out,” cohabitation comes with challenges. She sings metaphorically, “That big tree in the front yard lost a limb,” and uses the season of autumn to signify the decay of that relationship, evidenced by the following track, “Giver/Taker” and its opening line: “Sundown and I’m lonely in this house.”
But it’s the title track, as well as “Sway” that document her quest for centeredness amid all the changes that life can bring “without a warning,” words expressed on “Too Good to be True” and similarly on “Cardinal.” Musgraves never pretends to have it all figured out; in fact, on “The Architect,” she paints a series of scenarios to convey a balance of curiosity and confusion about creation, and life on the planet, leading, once again, to confirm Musgraves’ knack for relatability through lyrical construction. By album’s end, “Nothing to be Scared of” finds her dipping her toes in the relationship waters once again. And if life and love ever get murky again, Musgraves now knows she can always go back to the well.
Photo 1: “Cardinal” music video, directed by Scott Cudmore; Photo 2 and 3: “My Saturn Has Returned” promo for Deeper Well (cinematographer: Mika Matinazad).
Golden Girl: Kylie Wants to Go Out “Dancing”
Kylie Minogue just released “Dancing,” the first single from Golden. It’s easy-breezy pop that quickly triggers the feel-good goosebumps. It’s a smart, mature sound for the 49-year-old, blending country-inspired acoustic (think the gentle work of Sheryl Crow on Detours) with a thread of friendly hand-clap dance-pop. In a BBC 2 Radio interview, Kylie talked about how working in Nashville allowed her to approach the creative process in a different manner: “[Nashville is] so focused on the song and then you can take the song and produce that any way you want. But it’s just about the nuts and bolts of the song… at the alter of the song.”
And it shows in “Dancing,” as its layered meaning in the chorus resonates beautifully: “When I go out/I wanna go out dancing.” A literal reference to a joyful nighttime outing, yet there’s a deeper sentiment, in a non-morose manner, toward fearless freedom, mortality, and eternity: “Everybody’s got a story/Let it be a blaze of glory/Burning bright/Never fade away/When the final curtain falls/We can say we did it all/A never-ending of a perfect day.”