Every artist with a career that spans more than a few albums will ultimately cultivate their own personal version of the definitive breakup album (others, like Ms. Swift, make an entire career out of the matter, but that’s an entire other discussion). For Katie Crutchfield, a.k.a. Alabama indie-monger Waxahatchee, the chips just happened to fall sooner than later.
Her fourth studio album, last month’s Out in the Storm, is Crutchfield’s fairly blatant dip into the maelstrom of sour relationships and the bitterness that lingers long after the post-breakup dust settles.
“Ivy Tripp doesn’t really have any resolution. It’s a lot of beating around the bush, and superficially trying to see my life clearly, but just barely scratching the surface,” she explains in in the records’s press notes, referencing her previous album. “Out in the Storm digs into what I was going through without blinking. It’s a very honest record about a time in which I was not honest with myself.”
Waxahatchee brings the emotional aftermath of Out in the Storm to The Sinclair on Saturday (August 19) with Palehound and Outer Spaces. On Monday, Crutchfield announced on Facebook that the concert would be moved from Royale to the Sinclair due to “other events happening in downtown Boston on Saturday.” The show marks the tail end of her North American summer shows, right before a pit stop in Washington, DC and jetting to Europe for her fall tour.
Unlike many artists who have trouble when it comes time to rehash the details of old relationships onstage, Crutchfield has been poised for the task since she penned the entire album, weaving a pointed attitude from the start.
“I spent all my time learning how to defeat you/At your own game, it’s embarrassing,” are the first words she utters on opening track “Never Been Wrong,” which she quickly follows up with “Everyone will hear me complain/And everyone will pity my pain” on the chorus. She fades quickly into a more pacific approach on “Recite Remorse,” both in the song itself and the accompanying oceanic music video.
“I was waiting for permission to take off,” she admits on the track as the melodies fashion their own ambient environment.
Don’t let the sudden softness fool you, though; Crutchfield wields a world of hurt and resilience on the remaining eight songs of Out in the Storm, and she’s been waiting far too long to catapult the in someone else’s direction.
WAXAHATCHEE + PALEHOUND + OUTER SPACES :: Saturday, August 19 at The Sinclair, 52 Church St. in Cambridge, MA :: 6:30 p.m., all ages, $16 in advance and $18 day of show :: Bowery Boston event page :: Advance tickets :: Facebook event page :: Featured photo by Jesse Riggins
