For Kacey Musgraves, Deeper Well is all about relishing the smaller moments that upon reflection — and Deeper Well is nothing if not reflective — become those memories that you look back upon and savor. Whether it’s a lover who helps you unpack or the unexpected pattern the sun casts on the floor, appreciating the little gestures adds up to days full of gratitude.
On her fifth set, out today (March 15) through Interscope/MCA Nashville, Musgraves reunites with producers Ian Fitchuk and Daniel Tashian on this largely acoustic, mid-tempo album that sets a lovely, agreeable mood from the first guitar chords on opener “Cardinal.” From there, the listener floats away on billowing clouds pillowed by Musgraves’ unadorned, vulnerable vocals.
If her last album, 2021’s star-crossed, found Musgraves working through her divorce and embracing love again, Deeper Well‘s theme is surrender. Whether it’s to ruminate on Saturn’s return (“Deeper Well”), question life’s bigger picture (“The Architect”) or wonder what happens when we die (“Dinner with Friends”), Musgraves approaches all with a certain acceptance that her 35 years and a good amount of soul searching have brought her.
Musically, the album, recorded at New York’s historic Electric Lady Studio, veers toward folk and the atmospheric soft pop of the ‘70s. Like Joni Mitchell, James Taylor and Gordon Lightfoot, Musgraves, who co-wrote all of the songs on the set, has a gift for intimately setting a scene that instantly transports the listener into her world. The songs, some of which are as short as 2:16, easily and seamlessly flow from one to the next. What the music lacks in diversity, it makes up for in a pleasing continuity that is welcome and soothing in these troubled times.
A gentleness pervades the album, but don’t confuse that with a lack of edge. If Musgraves isn’t quite as pointed as she has been in the past, she still has plenty to say as she dismisses those “who are real good at wasting my time” on the title track.
Here’s how Billboard ranks the 14 tracks on Deeper Well.
“It’s in our nature to look out for each other in the heart of the woods,” Musgraves sings in this slight, undulating track, bolstered by Tashian’s 12-string guitar playing. It’s easy to imagine gnomes and nymphs dancing around Musgraves in this idyllic forest she’s created. Feel free to even throw in a unicorn or two to this brief track that clocks in at 2:16.
It’s sundown and Musgraves and her lover are trying to figure out the dynamics of their relationship in this lowkey ballad. As she asks that her love “wrap me in your arms like I’m made of glass,” her all-consuming happiness has left her in a dream state, declaring, “If I could take only as much as I needed/ I would take everything you have” on this woozy track.
The album’s most adventurous track musically finds Musgraves comparing finding a new love to looking at the world through cartoon anime eyes. She even manages to reference Japanese anime master Hayao Miyazaki in this fantastical song. “Oh, you’re such a pretty thing,” she croons, as stars burst around her. Musgraves goes into a spoken bridge as her love builds and builds to a crescendo, and then cascades into a synthesized landscape. It’s a little jarring compared to the rest of the album — or may be just the transition that the listener needs.
Musgraves lists the things she would miss if she were on “the other side,” including dinners with friends in cities where none of them lives, her home state of Texas, the shape of her lover’s nose and the way the sun on her floor makes a pattern of light. It’s the attention to detail, the appreciation for simple joys — without simply stating the obvious — that draws in the listener here.
One of the album’s more imagery-filled songs, Musgraves captivates with lines like “I want to bathe in the moonlight until I’m fully charged/ Come into my power and heal the broken heart that I carry” and “Like the bracelet you bought me, I want you on my arm.” Also one of the set’s most interesting songs musically, with Musgraves on dulcimer and Matt Combs on cello, viola and violin.
A new romance brings butterflies, but also fears of being hurt again, on this swaying track. “Please don’t make me regret opening up that part of myself,” she vulnerably sings. Musgraves needs her lover to be good to her, but not be too good to be true. Small wonder she wants to keep the happiness flowing: “Made some breakfast/ Made some love/ This is what dreams are made of/please don’t wake me.” If the melody sounds familiar, it’s because the track bears some similarity to Anna Nalick’s 2005 adult contemporary hit “Breathe (2 AM),” with Nalick even receiving a songwriter credit.
It’s the little details that that make Deeper Well so compelling and so relatable. Whether it’s recalling a falling tree limb that narrowly missed hitting the car or a specific dress to work to a party, Musgraves looks back on a home that she and her lover are moving out of with fond melancholy in this cinematic tale. Tashian’s slide guitar adds a slightly bittersweet feel.
This simple acoustic guitar ode to the plain joy of hearing your lover call your name, bolstered by a subtle violin, feels like Musgraves should be sitting on a grassy patch at a Renaissance Faire wearing a flower crown while performing. “If all I have is the light in your eyes, that’s what heaven is,” she purrs.
The low-key, finger picking melody serves as the backdrop to this lilting paean to finding peace. “Maybe one day I’ll learn how to sway/ Like the palm tree in the wind, I’ll won’t break, I’ll just bend,” Musgraves sings, as Sarah Buxton and Tashian provide a cappella backing vocals that feel as fresh as an island breeze. After the title track, “Sway” best incapsulates the album’s message of acceptance.
This album closer serves as a gorgeous benediction. With just Musgraves and Tashian singing, accompanied only by acoustic guitar and keyboards, “Scared” cautions against playing it too safe and wrapping your heart in bubble wrap. As Musgraves reassures that there’s nothing to be scared of when it comes to matters of the heart, she wraps the listener in a warm hug and the wise words, “If the train is meant for me, it won’t leave the station.”
This banjo-laden song, co-written with early collaborator Shane McAnally, finds Musgraves talking to the creator – or whoever is responsible for the wonders of the world — and questions if our existence was all a grand design or more random. “Is it thought out at all or just paint on the wall?/ Is there anything you regret?” The macro questions give way to the micro in this clever questioning of God.
A sly, unhurried R&B rhythm pervades the album’s most soulful song, thanks to an interpolation of “Kody Blu 31,” a 2022 song by rapper/singer JID. The intoxicating, sultry track finds Musgraves extoling the virtues of those things that money can’t buy. Between Musgraves’ enchanting vocals and the relaxed, languid melody, she recalls an early Sade.
With its lovely acoustic guitar intro, album opener “Cardinal” starts like a cousin to The Mamas & Papas’ classic “California Dreamin’,” before it segues into a Christine McVie-like stripped-down tale about a mystical visit from a cardinal, right after Musgraves loses a friend without warning. “Are you bringing me a message from the other side? Are you telling me I’m on somebody’s mind?” she asks. Towards the end, Musgraves sings in a round with herself, as the drums become slightly more insistent. It serves as the perfect invitation to embark on the spiritual trip that Musgraves takes us on throughout the album.
One of the most obviously autobiographical songs on the set and the first single, “Deeper Well” is dedicated to the realization that self-care isn’t selfish, it’s essential. On the genial, acoustic guitar-led track, Musgraves muses on giving up weed (no more waking and baking), getting rid of people with “dark energy” from her life and determining that she’s better off “saying goodbye to the people who are real good at wasting my time.” Its message of self-discovery resonates in a transcendent way.