The Lexington, Islington
“This feels a little bit daunting.”
For anyone’s first stint across the pond the occasion may seem daunting, particularly with such an acclaimed debut LP, yet the New York industrialites proved anything but.
Any notions of an awkward, precarious start quickly subsided as the immense machinery of the 4-piece act churned through a conveyor belt of industrial noise-rock, predominantly taken from their acclaimed debut LP of this year, Dogsbody. In spite of a conceded nervousness, frontman Cole Haden clambered through the amassed crowd, eventually locking eyes with the ominous-looking frontman of the late Irish punk act Fontaines D.C. Whilst Haden insistently preyed upon those within the audience, the rest of us were somewhat awkwardly left as mere onlookers on this scene of insatiable machinery.
Short respites between tracks warranted a breath to be respired and, for Haden, a re-application of crimson lipstick, deftly enhancing his intimate poetry brooding alongside the calamity of noise on-stage. “Everyday the sun slowly turns over me / Across my face, across my hands / Under my nails glowing like porcelain”, Cole transcends to ‘Slate’s romantic cravings “When I breathe, it’s your name / When I crave, it’s your hands / When I dream, it’s your face”, caught in an abyss of romantic cravings. As Haden's brethren exuded guitar screechings and chugging basslines, his meticulous descriptiveness heightened the brutalistic shufflings of Model/Actriz’s brand of industrial noise-rock, bearing a concoction reminiscent of Nine Inch Nails’ brutalism, Idles’ energy and Xiu Xiu’s enigmatic quirkiness.
Within these industrial rumblings, the effervescent crowd heaved with a ferocity amidst the upbeat tracks of ‘Mosquito’ and ‘Amaranth’: the former whipped into a frenzy of chorus-singing moshers (“With a body count higher than a mosquito”); the latter inviting Cole’s delicate falsetto range to float amongst the seismic guitar tonalities and drumming clashes. A diversion into their more punk-inflected back catalogue reminded us of the earlier promises of such an act - ‘Liar’ -inciting a brutal bout of schadenfreude, preying upon misfortune, “I’d be lying if I said that I didn’t smile when I saw you kill yourself”.
A delicate ballad, however, bid farewell to the sold-out audience tonight (“So bright with the sun in my eyes”) whilst the 4-piece remained unfazed, unmoved, undaunted. Even the sporadic technical issues elicited barely an acknowledgement (“please pick up the microphone cord and pass around”), as an enticingly updated brand of industrial-laden noise-rock sprinkled with hints of post-punk played out. New York City’s latest product of Model/Actriz initiated a consumingly monolithic experience, undaunted by the excavation of their suffering world gripped by merciless theatrics in the flesh.
8.5/10
Model/Actriz's latest LP, Dogsbody, is out now via True Panther and can be found below.
Tickets for their UK/EU tour later this year are now on sale and can be found here.
mmph's latest remix of 'Amaranth' is out now can be found here.
Photo is courtesy of Diogo Filipe whose work can be found here.