Swearin' and Waxahatchee alternated headlining slots during their fall tour. At the Biltmore, it was Swearin's turn to open. They discharged their hyper-fast, straight-out-of-the-90s rippers, including "Kenosha", "Here To Hear", "Crashing", and "Kill 'Em with Kindness", with some of the greatest clarity I ever heard. Or at least it seemed like some of the greatest clarity I ever heard because I didn't expect Swearin' to have been so tight and hard-hitting. Maybe the disparity between expectation and reality is why typical adjectives such as "sharp", "dense", and "crunchy" somehow feel inadequate in describing the power of their riffs and solos.
Waxahatchee's breakthrough album, this year's Cerulean Salt, has been my go-to album for pretty much any occasion that doesn't involve other people. It soundtracks countless comatose walks to work at five- and six-in-the-morning. In addition to all of the times I want to listen to it, it fills the many quiet voids when I don't know what to listen to.
Waxahatchee was great, as expected, but I actually preferred Swearin'. I never thought that would have been the case. I didn't fully get into Swearin' until pretty close to showtime, and I'm still lukewarm on their second album, the much slower Surfing Strange. Swearin' were just that good. They didn't deplete the night's energy and leave Waxahatchee in a tough spot either; if anything, the crowd was still amped on Swearin'. But Waxahatchee's bedroom pop offered no release. You could feel the restless energy linger in the air, especially as the crowd chattered amongst itself, infiltrating - overtaking - what should have been extremely intimate moments.
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