Editor’s Note: Here at No Depression there’s too much great roots music in a year for us to cover it all. So in December, when new releases slow down, we ask writers to review some of the best albums we missed throughout the year in an on-going series called What We Missed.
When Katie and Allison Crutchfield were fifteen, they launched their first band, The Ackleys. Their second iteration, P.S. Eliot, yielded four projects, culminating with the compilation album 2007-2011, released in 2016. Now recording under the moniker Snocaps, the sisters reunite creatively, joining forces with producer Brad Cook and guitarist MJ Lenderman. The resulting self-titled sequence highlights the siblings’ enduring chemistry and affinity for hook-driven folk rock.
Indeed, Snocaps is consistently catchy, blending pop acumen and literary leanings. Katie assumes lead vocal duties on “Wasteland,” which wouldn’t be out of place on Saint Cloud or Tigers Blood (released in 2020 and 2024, respectively, under her Waxahatchee moniker). The song mixes metaphor and diarism, conjuring the ups and downs of a tumultuous romance or charged friendship (“Saying everything I think, I am shrapnel / I am anxious resistance”). Katie’s voice is clear, buoyant yet reflective, poised yet unguarded.
