SIERRA's recent rise to prominence has been as meteoric as it has been deserved: her work can be found in the playlists of many international goth/indutrials DJs (but not only), but also in the world of advertising and video games. With her debut album, Story of Anger (review), the young artist not only confirmed that our expectations were justified, but also took a few risks, shaking up her habits. A little over a year ago, she accompanied Carpenter Brut on tour, and it was clear that returning to Zeniths on her own wasn't enough pressure: now she's starting to sing! Her visit to Paris, in front of a sold-out Trabendo, was the perfect opportunity to witness this recent evolution for an evening organized by Le Périscope.
Birrd
But before that, there was Birrd. We're not going to lie: the gap between our comfortable grey areas and the musician's universe was a little too wide for us to cross, despite our curiosity. Birrd did the job with a certain enthusiasm, in the smoke and gloom. His approach to electronics was just far too sunny, wise and gentle for us to find anything to hold onto. We didn't really play the cliché game, but as SIERRA attracts a heterogeneous audience, from techno fans to metalheads and a few goths, we wouldn't be surprised to learn that those who enjoyed the most Birrd's set weren't the ones with the dirtiest hair, the biggest beards or the saddest faces, but were more the type to enjoy life while drinking mojitos. Anyway, no hard feelings, one guy warming a room by himself, that's it, a thankless job from which he got off scot-free... But as non-initiates, a little lost in the face of this smooth electronica that neither frightens nor hurts, we don't retain much of it.
SIERRA
Those who have already seen SIERRA will be familiar with the configuration of her on-stage paraphernalia, which positions her in front of the audience, as if torn between her various machines, illuminated by her very own set of lights, creating a cold, futuristic universe. With this set-up, SIERRA looks good anywhere, whatever the size of the stage, from the immense ones to more human-size configurations such as tonight's Trabendo. With her easy-to-love, universal music (with EBM roots for physical intensity but modernized by cyberpunk and darksynth influences), SIERRA strikes a chord with an eclectic audience: it's effective, catchy and sufficiently rich and varied to keep our interest over the long haul.
During her set, you can feel all the care she's put into her live show. In a genre that is often cold, SIERRA has worked on her presence: don't expect her to remain hidden behind a synth (and possibly a pair of dark glasses), merely raising her arm from time to time. Annelise Morel has composed her persona and gives herself a bit of substance with her jacket, then struggles, strikes with rage... and, this is something of a novelty, sometimes lets go of all that to step to the edge of the stage with nothing more than her stick in hand, disarmed in front of her audience, to provide a few vocal lines. When she stands alone in front of a full house, the lighting brings an iconic strength to these moments, blending the courage and vulnerability that already permeated Story of Anger.
We knew how intense her music could be live, and her voice adds a welcome touch of human emotion, like a breath of fresh air in a set that mixes "classics" (Gone, Unbroken, See Me Now...) with new releases (Wait and See, Power, Never Right or Power with its softer, more melancholic pop accents). All the essentials are there, and they follow on from each other with energy. We may only regret the absence of the excellent collaborations with HEALTH, but we suspect that, in her desire to offer a live rendering of her music, SIERRA didn't want to work with Jake Duzsik's hollow presence on tape.
Towards the end of the set, at last, the musician takes the time to breathe and address her audience with emotion, simplicity and touching enthusiasm. She can't see us because of the spotlights and the smoke, but she thanks her audience at length. We sense her sincerity, and we even get the curious impression that this headlining date in front of a packed Trabendo was more upsetting for her than the one at Le Zénith. The result is the same: the audience is won over. SIERRA keeps beating stronger and stronger.
