Sweden’s electro-pop act Little Dragon are on fire. It seems like the band’s third full length record, which spawned hits such as Ritual Union and Shuffle a Dream has finally given the band the acknowledgement that many feel they deserve. A sold out crowd at the Hoxton confirmed my sneaking suspicion that they were indeed a band on an exponential rise. It was a rainy Wednesday night and with the crowd ready to rock, the band hit the stage and delivered a 80 minute set of dance heavy tracks that drew from all albums.
Little Dragon’s driving force is Yukimi Nagano, a women who exudes confidence and demands attention on stage. Moving fluently between singing, banging on electric drums/cowbells/objects and doing odd robotic dances, Yukimi was quite a sight on stage and her soulful voice added that extra punch to the tracks. It was a good thing that her presence on stage is so magnetic as the other members of the bands were pretty content in just letting the music do the talking. The sold out Gossip Girl meets Vice Magazine crowd (thanks Melody) was seemingly having a good time, dancing to the music when not traversing between their standing area and the bar. I can’t recall the last time I’ve seen so much movement by random people during a set. As Paul suggested, it seemed like a lot of people were at the show just to be seen or say that they were there, which I guess fits well given the Hoxton’s location to the notoriously scene Thompson Hotel.
The songs of Little Dragon seem to blend into a uniform sound at time but the band’s show was energetic and enjoyable enough to provide a nice boost to the crowd, a nice touch on a rainy Wednesday night.