Waxahatchee
Ivy Tripp
Merge Records
Street: 04.07
Waxahatchee = The Softies x Lemuria x Cat Power 
 
Ivy Tripp begins with the nearly five-minute-long track “Breathless,” a song that showcases Waxahatchee songwriter Katie Crutchfield’s adroit skill at reorienting her talent at different stages of her career—it retains the skulking pace and anti-nostalgic lyrics of heartache she mastered on 2011’s American Weekend then reinvented on 2013’s Cerulean Salt, yet buzzes with just enough of an unexpected minimal organ loop to steer the vehicle into another lane yet again. Waxahatchee’s indie-label success lends Ivy Tripp’s songs the same production polish that we heard on Cerulean Salt, but again, it’s Crutchfield’s bold and visionary narrative that rocks the album. Tracks like “Grey Hair” and “Stale by Noon,” which incorporate Casio-like piano notes into Waxahatchee’s ‘90s alt rock–flecked palate are confident additions to the Crutchfield songbook. Overall, Ivy Tripp is another subtle evolution along the path of a great artist. –Christian Schultz