Reviewed on Friday July 3
Gamely battling a scratchy throat, Newcastlesinger-songwriter Jen Buxton offers a raw, autobiographical brand of folk punk in the vein of The Smith Street Band or a more subdued Frank Turner. She’s got a sourly funny, self-deprecating stage presence and spirited songs like ‘Anhedonia’ and ‘Don’t Change Your Plans’ as well as a cover of Cory Branan’s ‘Crush’. Disarming stuff.
Ali Barter’s music comes from a more ethereal place, and though her set is unfortunately interrupted by persistent technical problems, she does get an unusually attentive crowd for a support act, with the likes of the gentle, floating ‘Run You Down’ and the more brooding ‘Community’ proving highlights of a promising but stop-start performance.
“You guys are weird,” Waxahatchee tells the crowd. “You came to this sad-ass show on a Friday night.” Playing in solo mode at her first-ever Australian appearance, Katie Crutchfield is soon into stride with the purposefully fuzzy ‘Grass Stain’, a song which sees her vowing to “Drink until I’m happy”.
There are more arresting, confessional lyrics where that came from, like on the gem ‘American Weekend’, where a barbed guitar line underscores strange and memorable images of heartbreak: “You are shoved awkwardly into my head”. The crowd hangs on every word of ‘Tangled Envisioning’ and the ’90s rock of ‘Under A Rock’. It’s a still, subdued batch of songs, but as on the irresistible ‘La Loose’, where crowd members add their own backing vocals, there’s also a real pop sensibility.
As well as cherry-picking the highlights of this year’s excellent Ivy Tripp, there’s also a lot of material from American Weekend,including ‘Bathtub’, ‘Noccalula’ and the beautifully fragile ‘I Think I Love You’.
Far from being a “sad-ass” affair, there’s something arresting about seeing such personal and introspective music, and you’re left reflecting that there’s no better way to spend a Friday night after all.
