Kacy Anderson and Clayton Linthicum’s second album, last year’s Strange Country, sneaked in like some phantom radio transmission from another, well, country. The two are united by blood–they’re second cousins–but more than that, they’re united by a body of folk and country influences that stretches back decades, if not centuries. Kacy & Clayton’s songs are hypnotic, precisely because you feel like you’ve heard them before in some past life.
For The Siren’s Song, the Canadian duo teamed up with Jeff Tweedy at Wilco’s Loft recording space in Chicago, and the pairing is perfect. Tweedy has increasingly opted for a crisp, intimate recording style in his own work, and The Siren’s Song is necessarily warm. “The Light Of Day” kicks off the record in a honky-tonk mood, crackling with the barbed-wire intensity of peak Loretta Lynn. Anderson’s voice is airier than your typical country heroine, but no less badass, especially as she subtly skewers suburban living. Strange countries, siren songs–this is the stuff of myth, and Kacy & Clayton are forging their own.
“The Light Of Day” appears on The Siren’s Song, out now via New West.
–Art Levy // host, Sunday 10 a.m. – 2 p.m., producer, My KUTX
