Hello, everyone! Welcome back to another individual album review, as today I’m reviewing the new Kacey Musgraves album, Deeper Well.

Do you ever listen to an album once and then immediately know it’s going to take a lot of listens to really have an opinion on it? Well, that was my experience here, but before we get to that I want to talk about my feelings on Kacey Musgraves’ previous albums.

She released her debut album, Same Trailer Different Park in 2013 to loads of critical acclaim, and I absolutely get why. Not only was Kacey a fantastic singer with a ton of personality behind the mic, but the song writing was really strong as well. Not only with all the fantastic melodies that made the songs all the more memorable, but the lyrics were great, too! There was so much charm to the way she wrote about so many topics, a lot of which tried to have an optimistic perspective on life while acknowledging that things are never going to be perfect.

But then Pageant Material came out in 2015, and while I mostly like that album, it didn’t have nearly as many standout tracks as her debut did in my opinion. But I definitely like it better than the next two albums she released, both of which had lots of airy production and boring melodies, and despite some emotional lyrics, it just didn’t feel nearly as interesting as her first album.

But I was still very curious to hear Deeper Well … and while I don’t think this is quite as good as Same Trailer Different Park, this might be my favourite album she’s released since then. There’s a lot to this album, and I think the best way for me to review this is to go track by track.

The album opens with “Cardinal”, which has some really nice vocal melodies. I especially like that moment at the start of the chorus with the three ascending notes, and it’s followed by some high notes with a really lavish texture with the gorgeous vocal layering. I do wish the vocal production felt a little less disconnected from the instrumental, especially in the verses, but I still like this track quite a bit, especially considering the lyrics, where she sees a cardinal and wonders if it’s some sort of sign, maybe a friend who passed away sending her a message … but really, there’s no way to know, and the frustration subtly shines through in the vocal performance and slightly less subtly in the melodies. I do think the more upbeat drums and guitar sound a little awkward when paired with the frustrated vibes, and it’s part of the reason I don’t quite think this is a great song, but it’s not far from it.

Next is the title track, “Deeper Well”, in which she sings about making positive changes, and moving on from things that are holding her back from living the life she really wants to live. And there’s a lot of maturity here, as she’s not worrying too much about whether or not she made the right decisions in the past, because you can’t go back and change it. And the calming acoustic guitar with the gorgeous vocal layering really fits.

Sonically I’m not a huge fan of the next track, “Too Good to be True”, with its sort of clunky percussion and some acoustic guitar that I think is too loud in the mix, but I do like the lyrics where the narrator has entered a new relationship and it’s going very well, but she can’t help but wonder if it’s too good to be true.

In “Moving Out” I definitely like the acoustic guitar mixing a lot more, and while the snare feels a little snappier than I would have liked, I still think the instrumental is pretty strong here. In this track she’s describing moving out of a house, and remembering a bunch of memories she’s made there, and I like that there’s some detail here.

Things do get a little awkward, though, in the next track, “Giver / Taker”. I think I get what this song is trying to do, as I think she’s describing a relationship in which she’s doing so much for this person and this person isn’t really doing much for her. And it seems like she’s sarcastically responding with the idea that they should both do absolutely everything the other person wants. And it feels a little awkward because the sarcasm doesn’t really fit with the feeling of earnestness in the vocals and instrumentation. Like with pretty much any song, I may be interpreting it wrong, but it still feels awkward to me. Although I do still like the sound of this track overall, and there are some good melodies.

As we get closer to the halfway point of the album, there’s the song, “Sway”, which I think is fairly good but not all that memorable. Yeah, the percussion has a nice, crisp feeling to it which fits pretty well with the rest of the instrumentation and the very calm vibe of this song, especially considering the lyrics which seem to be about trying to reach a point where you can stop overworrying about small things and not letting them ruin your day, and it feels fitting considering how much this track feels like a fantasy of hopefully reaching that point in the future. But the chorus is pretty weak in my opinion, especially with some strange vocal effects that really take away from the emotional feeling of the track, and I wish the acoustic guitar melody had a bit more variety.

“Dinner with Friends” has some really nice lyrics where she lists a bunch of things she appreciates about life, and while I mostly like this track, I do think the chorus makes it feel a little less happy than I think it’s supposed to, with a sort of gloomy feeling that I’m baffled by.

“Heart of the Woods” has some ideas that I like, with the lyrics which seem to be about treating people with respect, regardless of whether or not we know them. I just wish it felt more fully fleshed out, and the production feels way messier than I would have liked.

But then there’s “Jade Green”, easily one of my favourite tracks on the album. The lyrics seem to be about someone very special to her, possibly a romantic partner, and she feels like this person is always with her, using a gift from this person as a reminder. And sonically this track reminds me of Jewel’s “Standing Still”, another great track in my opinion. But whereas “Standing Still” has some notable elements that I think very much hold it back from reaching its potential, I don’t really notice those as much here … it’s just got such a nice, clean sound to it that washes over you in the best way!

But “Jade Green” isn’t quite my favourite song here; that would be “The Architect”, which not only has some of my favourite vocal melodies on the album, but the production is absolutely stunning, with the way the acoustic guitar accompanies Kacey’s amazing vocals, and everything sounds pretty much perfect in the mix! And I really like the lyrics, too, where she’s questioning what caused everything to be the way it is, and whether or not there’s a higher power, and if there is, how much control does that higher power have?

I also quite like the next track, “Lonely Millionaire”. It has a nice interpolation of JID’s “Kody Blu 31” that I think works quite well, and the production sounds pretty good, too. Lyrically it doesn’t seem to be doing anything all that unique, but the instrumentation and vocals which together feel like they represent trying to claw your way out of depression do fit well with the lyrics about money and fame not totally solving anyone’s problems.

And while “Heaven Is” doesn’t have the most gripping instrumentation or melodies here, I do like the lyrics, which seem to be about trying to forget about all the fame for a moment and just appreciating spending time with a romantic partner. It kind of reminds me of when Taylor Swift did something similar near the end of reputation with what I think is one of the better songs on that album in “Call It What You Want”, except unlike that song this one doesn’t get the mood killed by an incredibly distracting hi-hat.

“Anime Eyes” definitely has some vocal layering that I think sounds a little too busy in a way which kind of ruins the atmosphere, but the acoustic guitar sounds nice, and I mostly like the production on this track.

And I think the album ends really strong with “Nothing to be Scared Of”, which I feel like could be interpreted in a few different ways, one being her settling into a new relationship and trying not to worry about what might go wrong.

But the closing track also feels like it could be about two exes who are living in different parts of the world, but the narrator feels like her ex is still with her everywhere she goes, and she’s wishing she could go back, but she’s going to at least appreciate the good times they had, and also hopefully they’ve changed each other for the better … ‘I’ll come to you and drop my bags, and you’ll help me unpack them.’

And this seems to possibly be an underlying theme throughout the album—when you’re feeling sad, looking for a silver lining. It kind of feels like a full circle moment considering that’s the idea behind the opening track on her debut album.

And there seems to especially be an emphasis on past experiences improving the future, such as how she mentions ‘leaving it better than we found it’ talking about a house in “Moving Out”, and there’s also the title track where she tries not to worry about decisions she made in the past and looks more at how to do better in the future. Maybe they were learning experiences.

And considering some of the more philosophical lyrics in tracks like “Cardinal” and “The Architect”, it makes this all the more fascinating because it brings up the question, ‘How many of the bad decisions we’ve made in the past are going to end up impacting our lives in a positive way by teaching us a lesson?’ And “Sway” also feels like it could represent trying to have a more optimistic look at things, and not letting the mistakes we make prevent us from being happy and living our lives.

So, overall … well, there’s a lot to unpack here lyrically, a lot more than I even mentioned here. But while I often like lyrical detail, often this album can feel personal in a way where it just doesn’t feel all that relatable. And don’t get me wrong, I enjoy hearing other people’s stories, but often this style of music with this kind of production and a bit of a gloomy feeling to it is the kind of music where I usually like it more the more I feel like I relate to it.

And thus I can’t quite say this really clicked for me as much as I’d like lyrically, and there are some moments where the melodies are kind of boring in my opinion, and the production can be a bit hit-or-miss at points, but the best moments here are great and I don’t think there’s a bad track here.

Overall, there’s a lot more that I like about this than there is that I don’t, so I’m going to give Deeper Well a 7/10.

As always, though, this is all just how I personally feel about this album. Feel free to disagree with me in the comments. This is all just my opinion.

Just before I end this review, I want to quickly give a brief update on what’s coming up soon. I’m just about to finish my first year of college, and with exams coming up the reviews might slow down a bit, and/or they might be a little more rushed, and I’m totally fine with that. In a few weeks I’ll probably make reviews a bit more of a priority than they are right now.

Thanks for reading this review, and I’ll be back soon with more!

Final Thoughts
Rating: 7/10
Favourite Tracks: “Deeper Well”, “Jade Green”, “The Architect”, “Nothing to be Scared Of”
Least Favourite Track: “Heart of the Woods”