New York industrial noise innovators Model/Actriz are a notorious live force. Forming at the Berklee College of Music in 2016, they have only released two albums: 2023’s electrifying Dogsbody and this year’s more melodic – but equally urgent – Pirouette. On both, the band’s inventive and confronting blend of rhythmic percussion and clattering noise rock is paired with singer Cole Haden’s physical and operatic lyrical persona. These songs translate into a theatrical and destructive live performance, receiving accolades from major publications throughout their career. Tonight’s show is sold out, as the band arrive at Lantern Hall towards the end of their most recent tour.
Opener ‘Vespers’ – of tonight’s show and new album – is a perfect showcase of M/A’s musical precision and dominating presence. Illuminated in a sinister hue of red lights, the band take the stage before Haden, delivering an uncompromisingly loud clamour of noise. When Haden joins them – adorned with a handbag, oversized sunglasses, and torn-up shirt – he welcomes newcomers (“has anyone not seen Model/Actriz before? Welcome”) and applies some lipstick. The resulting song is explosive and propulsive, its washy and melodic chorus giving way to a precisely rhythmic and driving verse. In its midsection, Haden’s idiosyncratic lyrics are accompanied by rumbling bass and punchy, syncopated drums (“Now give thanks to theatre, Whom I beseech religiously, Are you her?”). Occasionally, the song will give way to stabs of industrial clatter. It commands the audience’s attention.
The song transitions without pause to debut hit ‘Mosquito’. Here, hurried four-on-the-floor drums are chased by Aaron Shapiro’s plucky, one-note bass. As Haden’s baritone joins in, the high-pitched guitar sounds like a hammer striking streel. At the bridge, the lyrics describe the mundane activity of eating breakfast in grotesque, vivid detail – “Frothed milk, honey butter in my… Fortified cherry reduction, over cakes, après-dîner” – before crashing into an exhilarating and punishingly loud chorus.
As the band get started on their fifth song, the electro-punk gem ‘Doves’, Haden makes his way into the crowd. Having seen M/A before – at London’s Shacklewell Arms in 2023 – I knew beforehand this was a customary feature of their live performance. He moves straight past the mosh-pit to more trepidatious members of the crowd, breaking the barrier between performer and attendee in confronting fashion.
This, along with the three costume changes throughout the performance, encapsulates Haden’s live persona. He is a threatening and dangerous presence, yet the theatrical dramatism of his lyrics and movements contribute to an ultimately playful and involving atmosphere. Arriving back on stage, he opens a bottle of white wine and toasts the audience, before the band continue into the clinically precise and pulsating ‘Audience’. Through the verse, bubbling synths meet controlled and dissonant guitars. It is oddly groovy and infectious, the widening mosh-pit a case in point.
There is rarely a break in the music. Between songs, the band will create rumbling, formless soundscapes to maintain the energy in the room. The setlist is short and focused, lasting only an hour and picking selectively between the two albums. The obvious outlier is ‘Acid Rain’, a beautifully orchestrated and minimal ballad that establishes the band’s prowess at a lower volume. It is a surprisingly poignant moment, and sits well even in stark contrast to the rest of the set.
After changing costume for the final time, and now customised with a dog-eared woolly hat, Haden joins the band for penultimate song ‘Cinderella’. It is back to usual business, a disco beat backed with a monstrously sinister, monotone bass in brilliantly rhythmic fashion. The absurd and theatrical lyrics describe a childhood memory of Haden’s, where he changes his mind about hosting a Cinderella birthday party (“When the moment came and I changed my mind, I was quiet, alone, and devastated”). It is a vulnerable and fantastical end to an exhilarating show, Model/Actriz proving themselves as an urgent and confronting force in the industrial noise scene.
Conor Lang
