Kacey Musgraves turns cosmopolitan on pop-infused ‘Golden Hour’

“In Tennessee, the sun’s going down, but in Beijing, they’re heading out to work.”

This delicious non-sequitur comes to us courtesy of Kacey Musgraves. Even though it’s tucked inside of the delicately liberating tune “Slow Burn” that ignites her new “Golden Hour” album, the line is quite telling. It signals that Musgraves is no longer running on Nashville time.

One of country music’s finest stylists since the release of her major label debut, “Same Trailer Different Park” in 2013, Musgraves takes a huge step away from tradition and a massive leap into the cosmopolitan on “Golden Hour.” Sounds that blended a dash of country kitsch with a hefty serving of vintage flavoring in the past have, in short, moved on. “Golden Hour” is, in essence, a pop work, but not pop in the sort of the cookie cutter way most formulaic records on country radio sound. The songs on “Golden Hour” are light years smarter and are still sung with the sense of conversational intimacy that made her past music sound so smart. But the groove, and often the entire musical feel of “Golden Hour,” represents something new.

Several songs that unfold during the first half of the album — “Lonely Weekend,” “Butterflies” and particularly “Love is a Wild Thing” — possess a hushed, wistful feel that paints deceptively isolated scenarios with sense of warmth and hope. The music is similarly at ease with pop-directed keyboards cushioning frameworks of acoustic guitar and the largely contemplative colors of Musgraves’ singing. Sandwiched between them are two gems — the solo piano snapshot “Mother” and a tune that sets up a pay-off that comes during the album’s second half. Titled “Space Cowboy,” it seemingly reads like a kiss off tune, although its key chorus lyric could be viewed as Musgraves’ adieu to the Nashville mainstream (“You can have your space, cowboy”).

“Golden Hour” strikes pure gold with its last three entries. “High Horse” is another hit-the-road tune, but with a sleek, percolating electronica/disco groove running under a glorious break-up narrative (“Everyone knows someone who kills the buzz every time they open up their mouth”) that slides with exquisite ease into its chorus (“Why don’t you giddy up, giddy up, and ride straight out of this town — you and your high horse”). Try two stepping to that.

Then the album’s title tune does a 180 for a beautifully crafted love song full of summery simplicity before “Rainbow,” another solo piano ballad, takes the record home with solace both worldly and personal (“If you could see what I see, you’d be blinded by the colors”).

For Musgraves, the primary color is now gold. On “Golden Hour,” it shines with a sense of grace and groove today’s country music can’t begin to contain.

This story was originally published April 3, 2018 at 5:40 PM with the headline "Kacey Musgraves turns cosmopolitan on pop-infused ‘Golden Hour’."