At the Biltmore Cabaret on Saturday, May 2

It’s always dangerous to read an artist’s lyrics as autobiography, but if Katie Crutchfield was indeed baring her soul in the songs she sang at Saturday night’s Waxahatchee show at the Biltmore, well, I’m a little worried about her. Then again, she did sing, right off the top, “I’m not trying to be seen.”

That line comes from “Breathless”, which, with its synthesizer drone and hushed vocals, was more of an anomaly than a tone-setter. After that, Crutchfield strapped on an electric guitar—a sonic-blue G&L Fallout, for anyone wondering—and the band bashed through “Under a Rock”, a short, sharp pop tune built on a three-chord verse progression that sounded like something from a Teenage Fanclub record. Only if Teenage Fanclub had written it, the song probably would have gone on for another minute.

Those are the keys to Crutchfield’s compositions: she doesn’t see any point in using fancy chords when an open major chord will do, and her tunes only occasionally break the three-minute mark. If that description lends the impression that she’s a lazy songwriter, however, that isn’t borne out by the songs themselves. It might be built on the simplest of foundations, but Waxahatchee’s material delivers where it counts. The Philadelphia (by way of Brooklyn via Alabama) act isn’t short on melody or emotional firepower.

The 26-year-old Crutchfield masterfully uses her lyrics to convey that sense of being not quite comfortable in one’s own skin that comes with postadolescence. Consider “Less Than”, a highlight of Waxahatchee’s latest album, Ivy Tripp, and of Saturday night’s set. The song is a kiss-off to “a man I’ll forever ignore”, but it’s impossible to interpret a line like “You’re less than me, and I am nothing” as self-deprecation of the highest magnitude. “You were a jerk for making me feel like dirt,” the song’s narrator seems to be saying, “but you were also right.”

Again, though, let’s assume that Crutchfield is not actually the deeply conflicted person her lyrics suggest she is. She certainly put a lot of joy into playing “Less Than”, which ended with a descent into dissonant chaos that allowed guitarist Keith Spencer (who is also Crutchfield’s boyfriend) to show off his adeptness at bringing the proverbial noise. In fact, all of Waxahatchee’s touring members—who include Katie’s twin sister, Allison Crutchfield, on guitar and backing vocals, plus Katherine Simonetti on bass and Ashley Arnwine on drums—did a superb job, underscoring their leader’s bare-bones indie-folk with just enough grunge and grit.

This is where I would throw in some comparisons to Juliana Hatfield, Throwing Muses, Jale, and other semi-popular artists of the ’90s underground. I mean, I would do that if I wanted to sound like a middle-aged rock critic. Instead, I’ll just leave it there.