Allison Crutchfield’s debut solo LP Tourist in This Town plays like a dark and weary travelogue. The new record finds her processing personal tectonic shifts against the backdrop of far-flung locales while touring as a member of her twin sister Katie’s band Waxahatchee.
Originally from Alabama, Crutchfield has spent much of the past decade on the road—first traveling the DIY circuit with Katie in their cultishly beloved feminist punk duo P.S. Eliot before realizing her bitingly catchy and blisteringly economical songwriting voice with mid-fi pop-punk legends Swearin’. But Swearin’ dissolved, Crutchfield broke up with one of its members, and the fallout from these major life changes catalyzed with her solo project. If you’re exhausted reading that whirlwind summary of a young musical life, imagine how Crutchfield feels.
“Because of my lifestyle the last couple of years, it’s kind of impossible for me to just sit down and write a song,” she explains. “Since I was traveling so much, I was just keeping these really diligent notes.” This journaling habit allowed her to preserve her emotions for a time when she’d be able to process them: “I was just tabling those feelings for later.”