Score: 4/5
Katie Crutchfield, who performs under the moniker Waxahatchee, has only been around since 2012. Yet her third album, “Ivy Tripp,” shows her prolific writing is unstoppable in the face of her penchant for lovesickness and finding meaning in meaningless experiences.
“Breathless” opens the album with a groaning static tone that lasts the songs’ entirety. The noise acts as a backdrop against Waxahatchee’s descriptions of relationships and hopefulness. The track is layered with harmonic singing and lurching synth notes that sound better suited for a “Twin Peaks”-themed indie band. “Breathless” is ominous and weirdly catchy despite being incredibly slow, crawling through Crutchfield’s anguish with the help of an eerie hook.
After “Breathless,” things pick up on “Ivy Tripp.” The album becomes sunnier, reaching a cheery climax at “La Loose,” the fourth track. A synthetic beat bangs out a thin rhythm like that of a programmed keyboard. Crutchfield’s sings in an innocent-sounding falsetto that conveys the lyrics’ hope and loving excitement.
“Ivy Tripp” is a deeply sentimental album, with each song more emotional than the last. Ironically, one of the most gut-wrenching tracks is probably also the cheeriest. “Summer of Love” is Waxahatchee’s two-minute telling of nostalgia from a summer long passed. The lyrics describe flashbacks and memories of happier times together before being slung forward to present day, the chorus declaring “the summer of love is a photo of us.”
The album is closed with “Bonfire,” an erratic and bass-heavy ballad to intimate fireside encounters as well as the “fires” created by them. Crutchfield’s role in the song is that of a sort of an emotional rebounder, coming to the rescue of a long-awaited love interest.
On “Ivy Tripp,” Crutchfield channels a number of artists in her newest album. Influences come in left and right, ranging from The Decemberists to Sunny Day Real Estate. There are songs where she is uplifted, liberated from old heartache. Others, she is scarred and languishing over a conveniently-placed piano where she can recite all of her fears and pains.