Following on from my thoughts on Kacey Musgraves' Same Trailer Different Park album, I thought I'd do the same for her second album Pageant Material. There was a lot of excitement in the country world about her new release and in my world to be honest. After coming across her in 2012 I've always rooted for her and her music and hell she knows how to write a good song, so we were all waiting with baited breath.
Upon first listening, I clicked the CD out of its case with such excitement and simply laid and listened to it and it was an awesome 45 minutes well spent. This one is a lot more laid back and best enjoyed late at night, in the bath before bed. Her Southern words wash over you and are therapeutic as they fit so well over every guitar note. The album feels crafted. It is so well done that it feels as if it has been worked on until it has reached a certain level of perfection.
She still has the same quirky and sassy phrases that question how this world and her home of Southern America are not everything that they're built up to be and I often find myself chuckling at her beautifully constructed digs about what is seen to be 'important'. It also emphasises the importance of 'doing you' and how this gains so much more weight in a superficial world. Get drunk if you want to, cause hell and of course, she still remembers to light up a joint. Biscuits is sheer class and was the first song that I heard off of this album and it sure did stick in my mind.
One thing that is dramatically different about her first and second albums is the fact that she has found love and sings about it with such a joy and comfort that everybody would want to strive for and for this, it gives it such a different feel and makes it more of an album that could accompany any situation. Late to the Party and Fine are my absolute favourites and I cannot get enough of these songs. Upon first listening to Late to the Party I thought that I could guarantee what it would be about, but what I heard really surprised me in the best way as it turned out to be a lowkey song about enjoying sitting in a car with her love way more than any party. Fine tugs at my heart strings every time and I love listening to it whilst sitting on the floor: stripped back, keeping it real. It is such a vulnerable song and I'm not sure that she has ever presented much of this side of herself before and it is the kind of song that would make you miss every person that you've ever had some kind of connection with. HOW CAN A SONG MAKE YOU FEEL THAT.
