Cash savaGe & the last drinks

Good Citizens (Mistletone/Inertia)

With this, her fourth album of fierce and fastidious mind-melters, it’s as apparent as ever that Cash Savage can do no wrong. At a tight nine tracks, Savage and Co. use Good Citizens to cut right through the bullshit, taking listeners on a rollercoaster ride over waves of dry, goose-bumping melancholy and sharp, acerbic wit from the moment Better Than That bleeds in with its first ear-pricking plucks. A slow-burner, layers of gruff guitars and glassy fiddle seep with a dark humanity. It’s in the brighter cuts that the LP makes its most lasting impact—the pit-ready Humans and Courtney Barnett-ish Pack Animals— but it would be remiss not to also highlight the darker slithers of Savage’s mind, such as the heady Sunday and the winding, gut-punching title track. Matt Doria