The Underworld, Camden
“I’m A.G. Cook and this is the Britpop Roadshow.”
Shaking off the shackles of an eclectic hyperpop past, A.G. Cook incites an evening of distinctly different taste for his newly-tailored "Roadshow": a 90's throwback to those heart-torn indie singer-songwriter days.
Until this moment, Cook has weaved his producer tentacles far-and-wide amongst the modern popsphere: from Troye Sivan’s latest, to Charli XCX’s current renovation, as well as Beyonce’s Grammy-nominated Renaissance. Masterfully crafting and moulding the synthetic, rubbery exteriors to (what we’ve come to know as) hyperpop, many a pop aficionado made sure to attend one of his 3-night residency shows here at Camden’s dingy, sweat-infested Underworld for a taste of his latest material.
“I love this place: the size, the pit, the name, the location,” Cook confides as he settles into the last night residing within Camden’s cramped crucible. As the crowd draws breath for an anticipated recital of hyperpop’s glittery aura, things take a slightly different turn. Alongside his trusted supporting guitarist on-stage, ‘Green Man’ initiates what proves to be a omen for the majority of tonight’s set: a 90’s throwback to the yesterdays of the downbeat indie scene, a-la Elliott Smith and Jeff Buckley - recently re-made popular by the likes of Alex G and Mac DeMarco's refined quirkiness.
Contrasted against the vociferously upbeat, hedonistic glitz-and-glamour of our current pop scene, of which Cook has often supported in his eclectic tenure, tonight’s audience are instead swelled amongst the slower-paced, emotive landscapes typical to this indie throwback. Accentuated by cries of “I’ll miss you greatly” swooned by the crowd, distorted guitar solos which reverberate with underwhelming effect, Cook embodies the depths of such a scene - extracting the more impressive likes of ‘Superstar’ and ‘Being Harsh’ from his debut, 7G; painting himself less as a producer, more as a guitar-slinging, heart-torn lover birthed from romantic yearnings (“I tried so hard to learn to say, I’ll see you again”).
As the sets evolves, however, Cook reveals vignettes of digression into the hyperpop sounds renowned today: rubbery synths, ear-splitting distortion, chipmunk-pitched/auto-tuned vocals; endlessly beseeching ‘Beautiful’, including his latest singles ‘Britpop’ and ‘Soulbreaker’. Whilst the former arouses a euphoric aura amidst the upbeat IDM sphere, the latter duo of tracks ignites a frenetic energy directly plugged into the crowd’s veins; attuned to dance-fuelled hedonism of Charli XCX’s latest world and the synthetic synth lines offered by Daniel Lopatin’s (Oneohtrix Point Never) emotive landscapes.
For this is what the crowd yearns from tonight’s “Britpop Roadshow” - a joyful, perhaps more upbeat, evening of beloved pop-inflected sounds. Begging for a place in which to forget such tribulations and dance the night away, Cook instead surges deeper into the current indie/singer-songwriter market which falls flat against the more boundary-pushing, daring elements of the former. Whilst tonight’s audience remain unsettled, his elusively illustrious body of work to date forever keeps us on our toes - engraving an enticing legacy for this notorious, if unpredictable, singer-songwriter and producer.
6.5/10
A.G. Cook's latest single, 'Soulbreaker', is out now via New Alias and can be found below.
Photo is courtesy of Henry Redcliffe whose work can be found here.