William Crighton's songs feel loosely aligned to the tradition of country rock, but anyone averse to that style – or anyone protective of it – will likely be shocked by the way the Australian songwriter approaches it. Crighton has plied his "bush psych" sensibility across four albums, culminating in 2026's Colonial Drift, which sounds like Steve Earle by way of Godspeed You! Black Emperor. The Hoodoo Gurus' Dave Faulkner considered Crighton's 2018 LP Empire "the best album of 2018, domestic or international".
It's bracing stuff: you won't receive it ambivalently.
