WAXAHATCHEE
Ivy Tripp
Ivy Tripp is the third long-player from Katie Crutchfield, the native of Birmingham, Alabama, the closest city to the forest-lined waterway idyll of Waxahatchee Creek. After the bedroom-sketched confessionals of debut LP American Weekend, its amped-up follow-on in Cerulean Salt, here comes a debonair third record, likely influenced by touring alongside the sussed Canadian pop sister act Tegan And Sara. Poison, a 132-second blast of self-flagellation painted bright, recalls Belly and Belinda Carlisle, and The Dirt similarly rushes by, tossing poison-tipped darts over its shoulder. "Loaded, you'll eulogise before you will preach," Crutchfield smarts, "Rubbing your filthy hands on my speech." An overwhelmingly winning album closes with the caustic piano ballad Half Moon and, with its thrum of whirring guitar and thud-thud-thud death march percussion, the slow-burning Bonfire.
8/10 — JOHN SKILBECK
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