Music / Reviews
Review: Shygirl, Marble Factory – ‘A big camp party’
Warming up for Shygirl, long-time collaborator DJ Angelita is spinning a heady mix of UK garage beats and thumping Europop.
She’s here off the back of a masterful Boiler Room set earlier this year, and is seizing on that same frenetic club energy. It’s already gearing up to be a special gig – one that feels more like a party than a concert.
Shygirl – real name Blane Muise – is anything but shy: she takes to the stage by herself, commanding the crowd with inimitable ease.
is needed now More than ever
At one point we’re all jumping for something she’s about to throw at us whatever it is barely visible through heads and smoke, but our hands are up nonetheless. We’d gladly catch anything Shygirl is tossing at us.
She’s throwing real roses, and it’s a good representation of her music. Her tracks are slick and soft, blossoming from harsh warehouse dance floors.
Marble Factory is dark and cold, but Muise brings light and warmth. The space is huge, and she fills it effortlessly.
This is the second tour of her first full-length album Nymph, the first so successful she’s doing it all over again. She’s even better this time around, with a Mercury Prize nomination under her belt, and raucous new singles thicc and fake.
Shygirl is always experimenting, and the payoff is always immense.
The album is a kind of twisted dance music, a heady celebration of queerness and female sensuality. It’s euphoric hyperpop: sex-positive, slick and sultry.
The audience playfully moan along with her, and she laughs. She says that Bristol has a special place in her heart (and that she even used to work at The Bank).
Cleo is a particular highlight: a grand track that breaks down into a smooth rap, Muise singing about a lover making her feel like a movie star. And she’s exactly that – dressed up in a flowing chiffon dress and long black gloves, she just looks like a super star.
Coochie (a bedtime story) and Firefly are crowd favourites too – her storytelling is spellbinding, even other-wordly.
We sing along, feeling like we’re at a secret party in a club deep in Berlin, rather than in a room adjacent to Motion.
A Shygirl gig is a big camp party, one that other artists can only dream of hosting.
Main photo: Mia Smith
Read next:
- Review: Billy Bragg, Bristol Beacon – ‘A huge celebration’
- Review: Slow Pulp, Strange Brew – ‘They take pride in the mastery of their craft’
- Review: Sleaford Mods, O2 Academy – ‘Something wonderful’
Listen to the latest Bristol24/7 Behind the Headlines podcast:
Our top newsletters emailed directly to you
