Katie Gavin What a Relief

Critic's Take

In a more intimate register than her work with MUNA, Katie Gavin’s What a Relief quietly centers songs like “I Want It All”, “The Baton” and “Keep Walking” as the record’s clearest statements of purpose. Marissa Lorusso writes with warm precision, noting how “I Want It All” trades festival-sized choruses for gently finger-picked yearning, how “The Baton” becomes a spritely bluegrass-tinged ode, and how “Keep Walking” crystallizes the album’s title into a small, freeing revelation. The best songs on What a Relief are those that let Gavin’s folk-inflected voice and empathetic songwriting breathe, turning private reckonings into quietly resonant hooks and lines.

Key Points

• Keep Walking is the best song because it crystallizes the album’s theme of accountable healing in a concise, affecting line.
• The album’s core strengths are intimate, folksy arrangements and empathetic songwriting that trade MUNA’s big choruses for quiet clarity.

Themes

Critic's Take

Katie Gavin arrives solo on What a Relief with a poised, Lilith-core folk-pop set where the best songs - notably “Aftertaste” and “Casual Drug Use” - pair sunshine melodies with casually devastating lyrics. Rachel Kelly praises Gavin's vocal texture and economical storytelling, arguing that tracks like “As Good As It Gets” and the experimental “Sanitized” show range and ambition even if the record pulls back too often. The review names the first half as stronger, positioning those lead singles as the album's highlights while faulting the second half for homogeneity and truncated ideas. Overall, Kelly frames the album as a promising, often excellent solo debut that just needs more space to unfurl.

Key Points

• The best song is a lead single like "Aftertaste" because it pairs bright folk-pop melodies with incisive, devastating lyrics.
• The album's core strengths are Gavin's vocal textures and economical, incisive songwriting, even as the record's homogeneity limits its impact.

Themes

Critic's Take

Katie Gavin frames What a Relief as a candid solo reckoning, where songs like "Casual Drug Use" and "Inconsolable" stand out for their raw emotional clarity and inventive production. The reviewer’s tone is admiring and precise, noting how Gavin burrows honesty into every line while bending country and Americana into queer testimony. Highlight tracks — notably "Casual Drug Use" and "Sanitised" — exemplify the album’s tension between virtue and desire, and make clear why listeners will search for the best songs on What a Relief.

Key Points

• The best song is "Casual Drug Use" because it crystallizes Gavin’s raw confessional approach and draws clear Alanis-like emotional force.
• The album’s core strength is unflinching honesty fused with genre-blending production that foregrounds queer narratives within country and Americana.

Themes

Critic's Take

In a voice both intimate and exacting, Katie Gavin turns inward on What a Relief, letting hushed opener “I Want It All” set the tone before brighter moments emerge. The review savours the glossy alt-pop of “Aftertaste” and the cinematic storytelling of “Casual Drug Use”, arguing these are among the best songs on What a Relief. There is also real praise for the duet “As Good As It Gets” with Mitski, a pairing described as a partnership of dreams, and for the naked emotional pull of “Sketches”. The voice throughout is admiring but measured, presenting the album as a gorgeous, valuable listen that keeps close ties to MUNA while staking her solo claim.

Key Points

• The best song(s) balance personal intimacy with strong songwriting, notably the hushed opener “I Want It All” and the cinematic “Casual Drug Use”.
• The album’s core strengths are Katie Gavin’s autobiographical lyricism, melodic clarity, and continuity with MUNA’s sonic DNA while asserting a solo identity.

Themes

Critic's Take

In a warm, reflective voice Alex Gonzalez frames Katie Gavin’s What a Relief as a record for thirtysomethings seeking queer comfort, singling out songs like “The Baton” and “As Good As It Gets” as the album’s clearest emotional centers. Gonzalez writes with the gentle precision of someone cataloguing lessons learned, praising “The Baton” for its Postal Service-esque electronics and homegrown fiddles and “As Good As It Gets” for the painful, Mitski-assisted realism. The review highlights how tracks such as “I Want It All” and “Casual Drug Use” pair candid lyrics with calming arrangements, making them among the best tracks on What a Relief. Ultimately Gonzalez argues the best songs land because Gavin finally tells her stories on her own sonic terms, turning private reckonings into communal relief.

Key Points

• “The Baton” is the best song for its therapeutic letter-like intimacy and musical nods to Gavin’s past.
• The album’s strengths are candid storytelling, comforting vocals, and emotionally resonant queer-adult themes.

Themes

Critic's Take

Katie Gavin's debut What a Relief feels like a second-skin confession, equal parts intimate and expansive. The reviewer singles out “As Good As It Gets” as a standout, where a Mitski collab crystallises the record's ache and tenderness. Elsewhere, intimate narratives in “The Baton” and “Inconsolable” compound the album's themes of lineage and identity, while the off-piste delirium of “Sanitized” supplies its most animated moments. This reads like a quietly rapturous chapter in Gavin's songwriting evolution, which answers questions about the best songs on What a Relief by pointing to those emotionally precise tracks.

Key Points

• The Mitski collaboration “As Good As It Gets” is the record's emotional centerpiece and standout.
• The album's core strengths are intimate songwriting about domesticity, generational trauma, and quietly rapturous admissions.

Themes

Critic's Take

In this piece Larisha Paul frames Katie Gavin's debut What a Relief around the intimate highlight “Aftertaste” and the notable collaboration “As Good As It Gets.” Paul presents “Aftertaste” as a lovestruck, bridge-like single that leads listeners out of Muna's world and into Gavin's own. She treats the Mitski duet “As Good As It Gets” as a significant feature on the record and emphasizes Gavin's introspection and desire for connection across the album. Queries about the best songs on What a Relief will likely point you toward “Aftertaste” and the Mitski collaboration.

Key Points

• The best song is “Aftertaste” because it is presented as the lovestruck, bridge-like single introducing Gavin's solo voice.
• The album's core strength is its introspective focus on desire and connection, and the successful positioning of Gavin's solo identity.

Themes

Critic's Take

Katie Gavin’s What a Relief arrives as a tender, Lilith Fair-core debut where the best songs - especially “Casual Drug Use” and “Aftertaste” - lean into raw acoustic warmth and confessional hooks. The review foregrounds “Casual Drug Use” as a country-tinged standout, built from warm guitar and Gavin’s raw vocals, and presents “Aftertaste” as the lead single that set the album’s tone. The writing highlights themes of being young, heartsick, and seeking connection, which makes those tracks the most memorable on What a Relief. Overall the tone is affectionate and anticipatory, pitching the album as a promising solo statement.

Key Points

• “Casual Drug Use” is the album’s best song for its warm acoustic arrangement, raw vocals, and anthemic chorus.
• The album’s core strengths are its confessional songwriting about youth and connection, and Gavin’s raw, intimate vocal delivery.

Themes