WAXAHATCHEE / OHMME 6.23.2022

Photos and Words By Tyler Jafelice

Last Thursday night, Waxahatchee brought her prolific record Saint Cloud outside the US for the first time. Taking place in Toronto at a sold-out Danforth Music Hall, the show was opened by Ohmme –an experimental indie rock band from Chicago. The night was full of laughing, dancing, and a couple tears as well.

Ohmme is a sophisticated but fun-loving duo spearheaded by Sima Cunningham and Macie Stewart. They were accompanied by drummer Matt Carroll and captivated the crowd in a way that’s rarely seen with merely two guitars and a drum kit. There’s a sense of both power and grace in the way Cunningham and Macie use their voices. They push and pull their voices between drawing out notes or ending them abruptly. When they sang “Fingerprints”, the crowd would cheer after every chorus because of the precision and coordination that song requires.

Ohmme has a complexity to their music that feel natural to them. They have hooks that are strong and infectious but placed inside off-kilter timing and rhythms. There were moments where the drums would play in a separate time signature from guitars, but done in a way that evoked movement from the audience rather than just simply awe.

One of the best moments of the set occurred after their song “Spell It Out” where they looped the final guitar melody and the band scratched slowly at their instruments softly to make forest-like sounds. Carroll would take the bottom of his drumstick and slide it in circles across the cymbal like a paintbrush. Cunningham tickled the strings of her guitar near the bridge of it, and Stewart would run the bow across her violin rapidly but softly. While it was clear Ohmme already had fans in the crowd, you could hear the audience’s applause grow slightly louder after each song—a sure sign they had been won over.

OHMME

As the lights lowered for Waxahatchee, “The Ballad of El Goodo” by Big Star played over the PA.  and the backing band took the stage. Katie Crutchfield then made her entrance in a short yellow dress that flared out like a ball gown. Drummer Eric Slick played the opening beat to “Oxbow” and the crowd joined Crutchfield in singing the words. Crutchfield’s voice is singular and so unmistakable that hearing it in person is almost surreal. She then picked up her acoustic and played “Chapel of Pines” followed by “Recite Remorse”.

It took the audience a moment to recognize “Recite Remorse”, but they cheered as soon as they heard Crutchfield sing “I was shaking like a leaf, I was clenching my fists”. “Recite Remorse” sounded like a slowed down version of her song “Lilacs” as opposed to its usual somber and ethereal nature. When Waxahatchee played material off her 2017 album Out in The Storm, they were reworked in the style of her latest record Saint Cloud. Out in The Storm is a very raw and troubled record and hearing those songs with a more light-hearted approach felt as though Crutchfield had been reflecting on them with the newfound joy that you can hear on Saint Cloud.

In between songs, Crutchfield would take a couple sprays of her vocal remedy—a bottle that rested on a tiny wooden stool beside her mic. A couple songs into the set, Crutchfield opened up about how this show was the first time Saint Cloud has ever been performed internationally. She said she was so happy it was in Toronto: “You guys are always the best, so it feels very fitting”. When Crutchfield played the title track off Saint Cloud, she started the song as usual with just her and her acoustic. But then the band started playing along on the second verse—supporting her in a way that felt so bright and colourful. Crutchfield ended her set with “Fire” and took her mic out of the stand and moved to the lip of the stage. The crowd shouted alongside her with the opening lines “That’s what I wanted”. Some people were doing little dances to themselves and a couple others had tears in their eyes.

After Crutchfield and the band left the stage, the audience continued cheering for just over a minute. Crutchfield and the band returned to the stage to play “Under A Rock”, “Ruby Falls”, and their cover of Dolly Parton’s “Light of a Clear Blue Morning”. Crutchfield waved goodbye to a cheering crowd and walked off the stage while the band continued to play.

WAXAHATCHEE