Here’s a welcome addition to the crowded canon of breakup albums. Allison Crutchfield, luminary of the Philadelphia DIY music scene, has described her debut as a “feminist” kiss off. That’s not feminist as in “angry” or “self-pitying”, the response of the Hornby-esque subject of Mile Away, who locks himself away to wallow in Springsteen’s Nebraska. Crutchfield’s heartache emerges in bittersweet postcards from life on tour with her twin sister’s band Waxahatchee. The emotional rollercoaster of losing her bearings is delivered with finger-snapping pop melodies, twanging guitars and widescreen analogue synths, letting plenty of sunshine into the sadness. The results fizz and bob like a Berocca for the ears.
