Live Review: Waxahatchee, Infinite Void

Local post-punks Infinite Void do a damn fine job of grabbing the crowd's attention with their roaring, swirling visceral noise. They remind us that as long as people in Sonic Youth T-shirts are picking up Fender Jaguars, we are going to be okay. Also cool to see Katie Crutchfield of Waxahatchee in the audience, enjoying Infinite Void's set.

When it's their turn, the four members of Waxahatchee file on stage and, after "standing and awkwardly tuning for two minutes", tear into Under A Rock from last year's Ivy Tripp. Initially Crutchfield's soaring vocals are infuriatingly low in the mix, but this is soon sorted out. Also on stage tonight is Crutchfield's twin sister Allison from punk-ish band Swearin'. It's uncanny watching two remarkably similar faces pull similar expressions while singing the same song. In fact, the twins' voices sound so alike that it frequently sounds as if Crutchfield is backing herself up, as she does on record. It's kind of a cool effect and must be a dream for many musicians.

The buzzing, bass-heavy Brother Bryan provides an opportunity for Crutchfield to put down her guitar and showcase her impressive pop/rock vocal chops. On Peace And Quiet the band establish themselves as masters of the loud-quiet-loud dynamic once so pervasive in indie-rock. The "ooh ooh ooh" hook on La Loose proves Crutchfield's ability to write a bona-fide earworm and gets the audience softly swaying and mouthing along (this is clearly a room full of introverts). In the main set there is almost no trace of Waxahatchee's acoustic beginnings, which remains a significant part of the band's subsequent albums. Songs from Waxahatchee's entirely acoustic debut American Weekend, such as Grass Stain and that album's title track, are transformed into full-blown rockers. On tonight's version of American Weekend the drummer beats the sides of his cymbals like they've wronged him.

Still, Crutchfield is a gifted purveyor of gentle, acoustic songs about struggling through your 20s, so it's a welcome sight when she emerges solo for the encore. Beginning with the beautiful, obligatory Swan Dive, Crutchfield reminds us why we first fell in love with this incarnation of Waxahatchee. Sister Allison returns to sing harmony on Blue Pt II and gives Crutchfield the sort of supportive-and-understanding-but-amused look only a sibling could when her twin flubs a note. Allison then departs, allowing her sister to have the final say with the simply gorgeous Summer Of Love. Then, all too soon, it's over and we all go back to the bar area to get beers and think about calling our siblings to ask if they want to form a band.