Gossip are superb, Waxahatchee processes the scourge of addiction – the week’s best albums

Gossip, Real Power ★★★★★

US trio Gossip are about to get tongues wagging again with their superb comeback album, Real Power. After knocking around the American punk scene for a few years, Gossip broke in the UK with fearsome mid-noughties indie banger Standing in the Way of Control (which also gave their third album its title).

Barnstorming performances made frontwoman Beth Ditto the talk of the town. Set against a spartan garage disco rock backing, Ditto’s roaring voice blasted like a force of nature, her physical presence unabashedly challenging indie rock’s skinny male hetero normative stereotypes. Here was a big, bold, gay woman letting rip in a rock scene that had never dealt with anyone quite like her before. Written as a protest against attempts to block same sex marriage in the US, Standing in the Way of Control became the theme of controversial teen UK TV drama series Skins, turning into an all-purpose anthem of youthful rebellion.

With the fierce leanness of their stripped back pop rock sound, Gossip were a game-changing band who never quite reaped the highest rewards (and never broke their native US). They made two more albums before breaking up in 2012. The trio reunited recently under the encouragement of super producer Rick Rubin (who oversaw the excellent album Music For Men in 2009.).

Control is still on the agenda, albeit recontextualised by the life experiences of a band now inescapably middle-aged. “I’m not only losing, losing, losing control,” wails Ditto on fantastic Motown-influenced opening track Act of God. “But I think I’m losing, losing a piece of my soul.” Grappling with issues of control on a personal rather than political spectrum, a compelling set of emotional, hook-laden songs face up to the fallout of a decade in which 43-year-old Ditto’s five-year same sex marriage ended in divorce, followed by a new relationship with transgender musician Teddy Kwo (who plays bass in Gossip’s live ensemble). Love can be complicated in the 21st century, but that doesn’t mean pop music has to be.

The best thing about Real Power is the way three perfectly balanced musicians concoct a sound of such thrilling dynamism, wit and energy without ever getting in each other’s way. Drummer Hannah Blilie is as metronomic as a drum machine, punctuating disco and rock beats with simple percussive flourishes, relentlessly driving the bangers and providing a steady grip on mid-tempo songs. Nathan Howdeshell plays guitars, synthesiser and bass without ever overcrowding himself.

Indeed, with the minimalist Rubin presiding, the sound is barely layered at all, with every track built around a simple guitar or bass part operating in tight conjunction with the drums, whilst shivers and shimmers of other sounds flit in and out of the sonic space. Ditto’s voice takes care of the rest, as a lead and harmony instrument. Some may lament that she no longer attacks every vocal as if she is trying to shatter glass and smash through walls, but I think control improves her singing. She still has all the character and tone of yore, but added sweetness, melody and intimacy too. This album is Gossip at their best. Real Power from a real power trio. Neil McCormick

Waxahatchee, Tigers Blood ★★★★★

This time four years ago, I’d moved back home for what I’d thought would be a fortnight-long blip in my Masters degree – oh, no need for a suitcase, a tiny tote bag containing my laptop, a few dresses and a pair of sunglasses (remember the glorious weather!) would suffice. Of course, Covid-19 soon put an end to that optimism, and I stayed in the box room for a year.

Amid the incessant doom and gloom, one album provided solace: Waxahatchee’s Saint Cloud – 11 achingly honest songs about heartache, sobriety and, in a way that wasn’t at all grandiose, the future of America. The 35-year-old, Alabama-born songwriter had carved out a solid career in indie rock on her previous four albums, but this fifth – fusing her penchant for poetic lyricism with the tender strings and gravelly vocal delivery of the most glorious Americiana, in the vein of Lucinda Williams or, yes, even Bob Dylan – was a marvel.

Joyfully, Waxahatchee’s (real name Katie Crutchfield, her stage name inspired by the creek near where she grew up) new, sixth offering – Tigers Blood – is another beautiful slice of country-tinged magic that never descends into nostalgia. Settle in with Right Back to It, a tender duet with fellow Southern songwriter MJ Lenderman (also a member of Wednesday, one of the most exciting new rock bands around). Singing of a love that won’t end – “Don’t know why I do it / But you just settle in / Like a song with no end” – backed by Phil Cook’s steadfast banjo, the pair emulate the very best all-American duets (think Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris).

On Bored, she tries and tries to block out painful thoughts, a process continued on Ice Cold (where she allows her voice to go full pelt, her anger and hurt evident in every howling note) and 365, the album’s rawest reflection on the scourge of addiction. Crutchfield’s backing band fades away, leaving her sonically exposed and emotionally vulnerable – but she refuses to cower, as she sings “I catch your poison arrow / I catch your same disease / Bow like a weeping willow / Buckling at the knees / Begging you, please”.

Crutchfield is that rare thing: both a remarkable lyricist and a remarkable singer. She deserves a much bigger audience – any fan of Williams, Dylan or Neil Young would be wise to check her out.

Best songs of the week

Djo, End of Beginning
Stranger Things star Joe Keery’s addictive track was actually released two years ago, but has been stuck in my head (and millions of others’) after going viral online. “And when I’m back in Chicago / I feel it,” he sings, in an ode to home and family that manages to sound simultaneously nostalgic and fresh.

Songer, WideAwake
Reading-based rapper Songer is quickly establishing him as Britain’s rapper to watch, and this sharp, witty track, which manages to both send up Cardi B’s earworm 2018 hit Bodak Yellow while also talking candidly about mental health and isolation, is sure to be everywhere in the coming weeks.

The Last Dinner Party, This Town Ain’t Big Enough for the Both of Us
It was inevitable, really. Britain’s most hyped new band decided to address the Sparks comparisons head on and cover the duo’s 1974 hit. Abigail Morris’s theatrical falsetto, coupled with the track’s dizzying guitars, is a whole load of fun.

Mitski, Coyote, My Little Brother
I’ll tell anyone who’ll listen that the American-Japanese singer-songwriter is the strongest talent in indie/folk music right now – her songs have a timelessness that deserve every comparison with the greats, from Joni Mitchell to Carole King. This Peter Lafarge cover, with its stripped back acoustics and anguished vocals, is stunning.

Porij, Unpredictable
Manchester four-piece Porij have a real knack for fusing genres, and this garage-inspired floorfiller – produced by David Wrench, who has worked with Sampha, Arlo Parks and The xx – has the perfect blend of euphoric beats and lyrical depth.

Olivia Rodrigo, All American
A deluxe track from her extended Guts (spilled) album – how Swiftian of her – sees the US Disney star-turned-pop behemoth use her razor sharp pen to describe falling in love (“Oh, god, I’m gonna marry him”) with a guy who can, shock horror, actually make her laugh.

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