Review: MØ, SWX

If anyone had suggested that the mainstream club legend that was Syndicate – oldsters may recall it as Odyssey, Papillon’s or Romeo and Juliet’s – would metamorphose into a damn fine live venue hosting Augustines, Bob Mould, Goat and MØ, they’d have been laughed out of town.

So it was with a degree of scepticism that we approached MØ’s gig at SWX. Once inside the crystal clear and importantly, loud sound, great sightlines, and friendly, helpful staff, saw any low expectations about the venue disappear in the blink of an exquisitely made up (in the case of many of the audience) eye.

The Danish electro-pop star’s music has been described as a cross between Siouxsie Sioux and Janet Jackson. So far, so interesting, but the question was could she cut it live; the answer a resounding yes. The music was a masterclass in how an artist’s work can evolve from edgy, experimental electronica to perfectly pure pop and retain their original fans whilst picking up many, many, many more of all ages and levels of hipsterdom.

From the minute MØ walked, or rather bounced, on stage she had the wildly enthusiastic and up-for-dancing crowd in the palm of her hand. She talked to her audience, looked like she was having fun, and was a blur of wildly swinging plaits – dancing on stage, on the balcony and even in the crowd without missing a note or a beat. Yep, this was a pop star.

But a pop star with a pronounced indie and dance sensibility, which bearing in mind her work with Major Lazer and Diplo and her love of Sonic Youth, Black Flag and Nirvana was unsurprising. The dubby basslines rumbled right through you on tracks like Kamikaze, Fire Rides and brand new song On and On, all the while underpinned by twinkly synths, samples and metronomic beats. And like most pop stars MØ has a great band backing her – note perfect, hitting every bass drop or drum break, descending into a squally, feedback-soaked, messy frenzy at the end of some songs and looking pretty impassive as they did it; maybe rocking back and forth now and again.

And like any showman or woman MØ had a wild card up her sleeve. Hers was an acoustic version of Cold Water, Major Lazer’s summer number one by Major Lazer on which she appeared with Justin Bieber. Thankfully the surprise did not extend to Bieber appearing on stage. She didn’t need him – her voice carried the song on its own and silenced the audience.

The set seemed short until you looked at your watch after the final encore of Don’t Wanna Dance and realised she’d been on stage for 90 minutes, and then you looked at the stage and saw her signing autographs for her fans. MØ – a real pop star with a sound that’s too big for most venues, a lot of heart and the ability to recognise that connecting with her audience is still important. We predict she’ll be topping charts and festival bills without any collaborations or Bieber connections very soon.