Kacey Musgraves is embracing simplicity on her new album “Deeper Well.”
On her highly anticipated sixth studio album, Kacey Musgraves is celebrating the little things in life. After charming the world with her lovestruck enchantment on “Golden Hour” (2018) and evoking the pain of a seemingly perfect relationship’s demise on divorce album “Star-Crossed” (2021), “Deeper Well” feels like the closing of an unintentional trilogy.
Co-written and co-produced by Musgraves along with longtime collaborators Ian Fitchuk and Daniel Tashian, this latest album gives recognition to the life events that inspired her last two albums, whilst moving into a safer, more secure and simpler time. Fueled by pretty guitar-picking and stunning lyricism, the album feels like a period of re-growth, the coming of spring — and after a long winter, there’s maybe nothing more healing than that.
You’d be hard-pressed to find someone who didn’t fall head-over-heels in love with the 2019 Album of the Year-winning “Golden Hour.” The country-pop record infused with some fun electropop elements has easily made its way into my list of all-time favorite albums.
Its follow-up, “Star-Crossed,” continued with her classic genre-bending production but leaned slightly more towards a pop-focused sound. A product of her divorce from fellow country singer-songwriter Ruston Kelly, the semi-concept album dipped into the story of Romeo and Juliet and perhaps was missing some of country-Kacey’s charm. With “Deeper Well,” Musgraves seems to have found the right balance in her sound, lyrics and personal touch.
The album kicks off with one of the record’s highlights. In “Cardinal,” a beautiful track that could have blossomed out of ’70s Laurel Canyon, Musgraves asks for the meaning behind the signs, looking for the answers in the immensity of nature. The question “Cardinal / Are you bringing me a message from the other side?” could sum up the album. If someone told me “Cardinal” was a Fleetwood Mac song lost to time, I would believe them in a heartbeat. The bridge celebrates Musgraves’ transcendent vocals with harmonies reminiscent of “California Dreamin” before launching back into its ’70s drumbeat.
Followed up by another genius piece of songwriting, the endlessly-pretty title track “Deeper Well” is decorated with guitar picking and pushed forward by a steady gentle drumbeat, whilst Musgraves gracefully expresses her satisfaction with the place in which she finds herself.
This album would comfortably fall into the country-folk category, but there are sonic reminders that it was recorded in New York City. “Giver/Taker” nods to the country-pop production that has often characterized Musgraves’ music. As the mildly-mellowed synths kick in after the first verse, and the drums sweep in during the second, “Giver/Taker” is reminiscent of a “Golden Hour” highlight.
Followed up by the semi-tropical vibes of “Sway,” we are given a quick call-back to the diversely-popified sound of “Star-Crossed.” The track underscores her gorgeously restrained vocal abilities while the swaying harmonies and alt-pop production send the listener off to the peaceful island about which she sings.
“Dinner With Friends” holds an element of nostalgia, opening with a piano melody and lyrics about being in cities you don’t live in, the “intimate convos” that can last all night when you’re with “your people.” Despite having quite a modern sound, these lyrics are the closest we get to very early country-Kacey days: The line “My home state of Texas / The sky there, the horses and dogs / But none of their laws” exemplifies her unparalleled skill of weaving the mundane with the political, the quiet with the conversation.
Amidst the successes, “Deeper Well” also includes a couple of less memorable tracks. The unusually breathy country-pop “Lonely Millionaire” features a catchy hook about money not buying happiness, but the change in sound feels a little disjointed.
“Heaven Is” is a simple fingerpicking-fueled melody that contains moments of classic-country songwriting that wouldn’t feel out of place in the days of the mid-twentieth century folk music group the Carter Family: “Nobody knows where we go when we die / Maybe we’ll ride white horses in the sky.” It’s a nice song for the nearly three minutes it plays but not an album highpoint. However, this is still Kacey Musgraves, and even one of her lower-ranked songs stands its ground against other contemporary country releases.
With “Nothing To Be Scared Of,” a song that initially might feel a little underwhelming for an album closer, Musgraves leaves us with a reminder to accept what comes our way with open arms; whether it’s love or loss, “there is nothing to be scared of.” If something is meant to be, it will be, and perhaps the beautifully simple lyric of “if a train is meant for me, it won’t leave the station” is the best way to end an album like this one.
A word to sum up this album is “contentment” — Musgraves has moved past the spectacular and all-consuming love of “Golden Hour” and the heartbreak of “Star-Crossed” to a place of quiet reflection, peace and pretty guitar. There are small glimpses of the scars that her life experiences have left her with as she sings about “worrying that I might drive the nail into the coffin” in a new relationship, but these are seamlessly woven into lyrics about the healing powers of nature. I do hope that one day we see Musgraves return to the witty, slick lyricism of her earliest country hits, but for now, we can share in the calmness and tranquility her effortless vocals have brought to “Deeper Well.”
As spring slowly makes its appearance, this album is the perfect complement to the blessing of the sun shining through your window in the morning. Paired with her two previous albums, “Deeper Well” closes a trilogy from one of country’s most skilled songwriters, capturing a personal journey of love, loss and acceptance made all the more authentic because of its unintended nature.
