Waxahatchee @ The Ruby Lounge, 12 June

Live Review by Joe Goggins | 13 Jun 2015

Katie Crutchfield has only released three full-length records as Waxahatchee, none of which have topped the 45 mark. Even allowing for the ferocious rate of return she’s managed – April’s Ivy Tripp LP was her third in four years – she still shouldn’t, by rights, be able to rely on the kind of strength in depth she brings to tonight’s show.

It’s ultimately a testament to her ambition, though; where 2013’s Cerulean Salt balanced rough-round-the-edges indie rock with low-key confessionals, Ivy Tripp diversified yet further, touching upon power pop, folk, even the odd hint of psychedelia. It allows for the first 45 minutes of tonight’s show to act as a wide-ranging showcase for Crutchfield’s songwriting ability; the surf-pop instrumentation of opener Under a Rock is offset by a snarling vocal, the freewheeling Salt cuts Peace and Quiet and Coast to Coast zip by a little quicker than on record, and the slow-burning menace of Bonfire, a standout from Tripp, simmers with real threat.

Some of the other highlights from Tripp, though, feel a little stifled by the band’s tightness; they’re not as ramshackle as they feel like they were meant to be, and Crutchfield’s versatile vocal ability is too often smothered by the guitars. It’s for that precise reason that the evening’s highlight is the encore, four tracks with just Crutchfield and her guitar; a cover of Great Thunder’s Chapel of Pines is an odd choice, but I Think I Love You and Grass Stain, both from her debut, bring back into sharp focus the fact that the best Waxahatchee songs are the ones that deal the heaviest emotional blows.

http://waxahatcheemusic.com