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Like their name suggests, Model/Actriz seek to channel raw emotions into striking new forms. Their debut record Dogsbody was sexy, dark, and humid, full of eerie passages and veiled menace. Model/Actriz’s sophomore album Pirouette, which was co-produced and mixed by Seth Manchester and mastered by Matt Colton, their collaborators on Dogsbody, swerves out of the maze and directly into the spotlight. It is Dogsbody’s equally accomplished, but much more self-possessed sister record – thumping and immediate rather than dark and obscure. Haden no longer vamps from the shadows but at the very front of the stage – and often in the very thick of the crowd – commanding the music’s chaotic center with a poise that channels Grace Jones and Lady Gaga. “Like ‘matinee’ or ‘seraglio’” he pouts on “Departures,” “all I want is to be beautiful.” On standout track “Cinderella,” the singer’s strutting bravado suddenly gives way to crushing vulnerability – as he stares into a love interest’s eyes, he recounts the childhood shame of backing out of having a Cinderella-themed birthday party, a psychic scar that he’s still able to trace over years later. The inventiveness of the band’s cohesive musicianship is evident on “Poppy,” with Haden’s lyrics capturing the full scope of their ability to fluctuate between instrumental squalls and barreling, dissonant dance music: “as flesh is made in marble/as marble captures softness/as softness holds a violence/within a pure expression.” Aaron Shapiro, Ruben Radlauer, and Jack Wetmore are a fearsome unit, rearranging the floor and the ceiling of rock music, with punishment and uplift coming from the jagged but interlocking complexity of each band member responding to one another. “Be embodied,” Haden whispers at the beginning of “Departures,” as the trill of Wetmore’s guitar and the thump of Radlauer’s drums activate your senses from both high and low ends.
Model/Actriz will be joined by Touching Ice, an Electro-Industrial Pop band formed in 2023. Starting as an experiment between friends, Davis Stewart and Dominic Colangelo traced the blurred edge of movement and disruption. But it wasn’t until Abigail Reese joined, adding poetry on like lyrics onto their tracks, that the Los Angeles band crystallized into something whole. At its core, textured guitar riffs and pounding drum machines create a powerful dissonance, while heartfelt, pop-inspired melodies pierce through the chaos—ultimately revealing beauty within the brutal. It’s a reminder that beneath even the harshest frequencies, there can still be something soft. Something worth holding onto.
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Event Venue
4920 Freret St, New Orleans, LA, United States, Louisiana 70115
Tickets
Concerts, fests, parties, meetups - all the happenings, one place.
