Golden Hour

Sound DNA

• Folk
• Singer-Songwriter

• shimmering
• laid-back
• coastal

About

<b>100 Best Albums</b> No one saw it coming. Not even Kacey Musgraves. There’s a reason her shocked expression at the 61st Grammy Awards—at which she won Album of the Year—went viral. After all, her 2018 album <i>Golden Hour</i> had been, at that point, the riskiest of her career: A passion project dedicated to fresh love, one the singer made with a new team of producers, and a little bit of LSD. Yet <i>Golden Hour</i> unexpectedly became an award-winning platinum smash, turning Musgraves from a critical darling with a devoted fanbase to a global superstar. Produced by Ian Fitchuk and Daniel Tashian—and recorded in part above Sheryl Crow’s horse barn—<i>Golden Hour</i> is a masterpiece of ethereal country-pop. The 13 tracks here run the gamut from psychedelic to disco-forward, all of them held together by Musgraves’ poignant, witty writing and gorgeously honed vocal delivery. Yet what’s so magical about <i>Golden Hour</i> is that, for all its progression, it never finds Musgraves abandoning the sounds that made her previous albums so electrifying and endearing. “Slow Burn,” in its minor-key opening strums, finds Musgrave pushing her trademark acoustic guitar through a kaleidoscope of new sounds, while “Space Cowboy” is a perfect country ballad—the kind of song that feels just as wandering as a lover’s desires. And the album’s closer, “Rainbow,” is a timeless offering of comfort to queer youth: “It’ll all be all right,” she sings. They’re the last words on the album—a potent parting gift. There are also plenty of thrilling surprises to be found on <i>Golden Hour</i>. “Mother” is a sparse meditation on parental love that’s barely a minute long—performed on a piano, and aided with a little bit of psychedelic drugs—while the cutting “High Horse” is a truly danceable disco tune. And though all of these songs are precisely written, <i>Golden Hour</i> finds Musgraves playing around with her sonic palate, slowing down and stretching out whenever she wants; inspired by the likes of Bon Iver, she even employs a futuristic vocoder on songs like “Oh, What a World.” With <i>Golden Hour</i>, Musgraves proved that country music could still stretch and reach new heights of imagination—and that millions of listeners were willing to come along for the ride. Oh, what a world, indeed.

via Apple Music

Tracklist

Credits