Skip to Content
Talkhouse home
Talkhouse home
Music

Best of 2020: Alicia Bognanno Loved the New Waxahatchee Record

The Bully frontwoman talks Saint Cloud and Katie Crutchfield’s “fantastic” lyrics.

I was on tour somewhere in Washington when we first listened to “Fire” in the van. It was just really upbeat, and I think that was the most memorable part of it — it’s just a very appropriate song to turn on first thing in the morning, it’s very feel-good. That’s not easy to come across, and I think it’s really needed now especially. But that was my initial pull to the record.

As I kept listening through, it’s just such an easy listen. It’s well-rounded, it’s dynamic, it’s versatile. One of my favorite things in music in general is listening to a song and realizing there’s only three things going on in it, but it’s that good of a song that it doesn’t need any more. The first song on the record, “Oxbow,” is probably my favorite song, and it’s kind of a perfect example of that. It’s really stripped down, but it’s so solid. 

Another huge thing is Katie is a fantastic lyricist. I’ve thought that forever — she and her sister Allison [Crutchfield] are just really, really good writers. You can tell that there’s a lot of consideration that goes into the lyric process and it's very admirable.

Waxahatchee’s Saint Cloud is out now, as is Bully’s SUGAREGG

As told to Annie Fell. 

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More from Music

Explore Music

Mood Board: Criteria’s SEIZE!

Stephen Pedersen on how his garden, his guitars, and the death of his closest friend shaped his new record.

June 5, 2026

Sook-Yin Lee Talks with John Cameron Mitchell on the Talkhouse Podcast

 "People in the same room is a balm and a medicine and an antidepressant and an understanding that we are still fucking human."

June 4, 2026

Anna Thérèse Witenberg and Jack Whitescarver Talk the Physicality of Music

The choreographer and the musician catch up about their creative upbringings, electronic music, and more.

Poliça and Circuit des Yeux Tap into the Rawness

Channy Leaneagh and Haley Fohr catch up about songwriting and more ahead of their show at Knockdown Center.

CORRECTION: Morgan Wallen Did Not Flip A Piano

A special report from Adam Schatz on this latest incident of "Nord Shame."

June 2, 2026

Pleasure Systems and Emily Wells Want to Know Each Other Forever

The friends catch up about irony in music, Fire Island, the queer lineage of their work, and Leave It in the Sand.

June 2, 2026