Backlit by the warm glow of two streaming strobe lights, Mallrat materialised upon EartH Hackney’s stage as a shadowy silhouette. As her ethereal vocals hummed over the transcendental synthy beat of ‘My Darling, My Angel’, what had a moment before been a hot, foggy and impatient room ruptured into elated excitement.
Touring after the release of her sophomore album Light Hit My Face Like a Straight Right, the Brisbane-born alt-pop artist (otherwise known as Grace Shaw) brought her signature combination of angelic yet clubby, electronic-infused beats to the Dalston crowd.
Second track ‘Pavement’ embodied the paradoxical intersection on which Mallrat lives – and thrives. Once self-summarised as “angel choirs and monster trucks” in an interview with Dork, her sound combines dreamy vocals with crunchy, experimental production, and this track is no different; the crowd cheered and joined in as her airy vocals give way to the chorus: a thudding, brash sample of 90s gangster rapper DJ Zirk’s ‘Born 2 Lose’.
‘Wish on an Eyelash’ followed – a short but serene song of romantic yearning from the Australian artist’s debut album Butterfly Blue. Released in 2022, this largely sweeping display of genre-defying dreamy soundscapes and earnest lyricism still remained unafraid to embrace a harsher, more abrasive sound at times. As the atmospheric trap beat of ‘Surprise Me’ kicked in, whoops and whistles rang out through the strobe-lit room. A heavier, catchier track, Mallrat danced and skipped around her misty stage as Azaelia Banks’ rap played out.
The setlist returned to the new album with the slightly grungy, reverb-heavy ‘The Worst Thing I Would Ever Do’. As Shaw sung out “So long / I’ve been waiting / so far / nothing’s changing” to a guitar riff reminiscent of 90s indie rock music, fans around me switched instantly into head-bopping – a testament to the chameleon-like ease with which Mallrat plays with genre in her production and songwriting.
Throughout the evening, she cut an enigmatic, nonchalant figure; mostly obscured by thick fog but distinguishable by the chunky headphones crowned upon her long hair. “It’s not lost on me how special this is,” she admitted into her mic. “To be halfway across the world, playing to a room singing the lyrics back to me.”
Next came another ethereal interlude ‘The Light Streams in and Hits My Face’, which slid smoothly into crowd favourite ‘Hocus Pocus’. As red and blue lights flashed to the beat of the Kito-produced dance track, fans couldn’t help but move to the grinding, addictive bassline.
Light appears as an overarching motif across the new album – a pattern Shaw only realised after the writing process was complete. Live, the lighting adopts a similarly important role, heightening the mood of each song and magnifying Mallrat’s signature marriage between ethereality and abrasiveness. As the artist sang introspectively on softspoken ballad ‘Something for Somebody’, she was bathed in a soft pinkish glow while heavenly strobes reached out to gild the audience. Yet, for the tracks with a more electronic, danceable feel (‘Hideaway, Hocus Pocus’), the room transformed into an underground club with neon shades of red, blue and purple flashing in time to the beat.
As soon as the first chords of ‘Groceries’ played out, pure joy erupted through the crowd. Mallrat’s most famous track – along with 2020 release ‘Charlie’ – is a low-key, bedroom-produced track which put her on the indie-pop map back in 2019, when Shaw was only nineteen years old. Both songs are simply composed, yet their solid beats, earnest lyrics and deft production signalled talent and potential beyond her years. As the chorus kicked in, a girl to my right couldn’t contain her joy: she leapt and bounded in time to beat, elatedly singing the lyrics to her bemused, grinning boyfriend.
It was the DnB-infused track ‘Hideaway’ that closed the set after the nonchalantly devastating ‘Horses’ – a real highlight of the new album. As purple strobes flashed and Mallrat played out her final, dance-inducing song, the audience lifted their hands up into the air and let loose.
Playing on one of the hottest days of the year, with a different crowd the atmosphere could have been stifling, oppressive even. But with Mallrat twirling through the fog to guide us, and her airy, floating vocals providing lightness even in the heavier-produced moments of the show, the room remained one of joy, dance and long-standing love for the ethereal silhouette at the front of the stage.
Words by Elise Barry
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