- Marie Davidson can't even describe the music she makes. "I don't do cold wave, I don't do techno, I don't do industrial," she told me ahead of Friday's gig at BAR in Rotterdam—her first time performing in the city. "Even when I try to do a style, I fail. I can only do what I do." Despite this, people have tended to pigeonhole her ever since she signed to Veronica Vasicka's Cititrax label. It's frustrating for the rising Montreal artist, who clearly weaves many influences into her work.
I honestly didn't know what to expect from the performance, even after chatting candidly to Davidson beforehand. I deliberately abstained from peeking at her Boiler Room set because I wanted to go in blind and be caught totally unawares. "That's the best way," she said when I admitted this to her. And you know what? It was.
2016's Adieux Au Dancefloor LP can be roughly hewn in two. At one end you have galloping, hard-as-nails techno; at the other, the more inviting "existential club pop" (as she once christened it). The album ricochets between the two, sometimes creating spiky but lovely melanges in the crossfire (like "Denial"). Her set, which lent heavily on Adieux Au Dancefloor material, played out in a similar way. She also included two new and utterly brutal blasts of instrumental techno, due out on her next Cititrax album.
I like the cold wave-via-Chicago thing, but I like Davidson's harder side more. There's also her comedy, her energy and power, her sleek composure and her experimental and cinematic deviations—all of which can only be experienced live. Watching everything crash against everything else is, for me, what makes her show special. That and her arsenal of machines. The beauty of BAR is that you can crowd around the booth and stick your face right in the action.
Davidson doesn't make conventional dance music, which can be difficult for some people. Her 1:30 AM set time didn't help matters, splitting the audience into a dedicated mob at the front who were willing to go wherever she went, and casual Friday night drinkers after something more floor-friendly. The night's other guest, Silent Servant, delivered on the latter with a set of classic proto-techno-leaning cuts from the '80s mixed with newer electro, new wave and grotty EBM. Even so, the place was already starting to thin out by 3 AM. BAR's intimate, living room setting might have suited Davidson to a T, but the Jealous God chief deserved a grander reception.
Photo credit /
Jaimy Gail