Live Review: Waxahatchee, Ali Barter

Waxahatchee

It’s the fourth of July and while fireworks are exploding on distant shores it’s a rather low-key Saturday night at the Toff. Tonight the spotlight is on a couple of talented singer-songwriters who take turns in dealing bittersweet pop tunes accompanied by their ever so gently weeping electric guitars. 

Melbourne’s Ali Barter casts a spell with her soft intimate tones accompanied by the metallic twang of her guitar seemingly swirling around her voice. Barter deals in dreamy atmospheric sounds, her cool crisp vocals floating in the mix with a certain serenity. It’s evocative dream-pop that brings to mind artists like Sharon Van Etten. The Community EP released late last year and the new single, Hypercolour, coming out this month are a tease for a forthcoming long player.

Kate Crutchfield who masquerades as Waxahatchee moves in much the same trajectory as Barter. In town to promote her fourth album, Ivy Tripp, Waxahatchee has been touring the States with a band but for her first Australian tour is going it solo. As Waxahatchee drops a confident and nuanced performance of material that brims with indie-pop melody underscored by grittier grunge-influenced guitar it’s difficult to imagine how the subtlety she manages to achieve in the mix would be handled by a full band. “You are such a great audience,” declares the singer-songwriter, “so attentive. In Sydney they talked all the way through my set. You can tell them I said that.” Waxahatchee does indeed silence the crowd as they contemplate her lyrics that are all too often treated as an opportunity for self-examination and analysis, mostly in the context of the relationship or affair in which she finds herself. Unflinchingly honest, it’s after moments of intimate expression that her lyrical resolve is often defiant as she brokenheartedly dumps her suitor in favour of self-fulfillment. 

After a while the evening’s mellow entertainment starts to feel voyeuristic as Waxahatchee gets personal. In a tasty selection of short three-minute songs, Waxahatchee quite expertly walks the line between interior exploration and hitting strong emotional chords without getting maudlin. The crowd comes up for air and applauds as she closes the show with no encores.