Model/Actriz Whip Portland Into a Feeding Frenzy at Mississippi Studios
Photo by Kane Ocean
To pirouette is to spin with one foot off the floor. Intentionally or not (and certainly without the grace of a ballerina), I was made to perform this move several times during Model/Actriz’s show at Mississippi Studios this past Thursday night. I could count on my hands the instances where both my feet were firmly on the ground, and for a band like this one, I wouldn’t have it any other way. Touring their new album named after the maneuver, the New York noise rock outfit made a rave out of a punk concert, complete with sweat, desire, and probably every meaning of the word ecstasy.
Photo via artist’s Bandcamp
Dove Armitage opened the show with a glitchy, gothic take on electropop sure to please any fans of early Grimes who have been disappointed with, well, everything about her career post-Art Angels. She switched between plucking some of her goth-touched bass lines and strutting along the stage solo while people filtered in. The latter mode was when she was at her most enchanting, free to slink around and engage with an ever-growing audience. Her set straddled the line between edge and playfulness, as illustrated by moments where she used her whisper to serenade a plush Miffy with such sweet lullabies as “Glass in Me” and “Sex On Display.” Despite a relative lack of power in some of the playback, the singer’s charm and emphasis on hypnotizing motion primed the crowd for the headliner’s increasing embrace of melody.
Volume would not prove to be an issue for the live band. After a brief intermission, the stage went red and Model/Actriz took their places. Mississippi Studios is not at all a large venue, but three quarters of the group assumed position about as far back as the stage would allow to make way for frontman Cole Haden, clad in a black hood, tattered wide leg pants, and scintillating skintight gloves. As his bandmates wound up the pulse of “Vespers,” Haden took the time to kickstart the crowd’s by leaning over the front and applying lipstick. From that point on, he reveled in the full attention of the room. He checked the temperature of the room, thanking those who had already seen the band before warning newcomers to“buckle up,” as the band launched into the all-out din of “Poppy.”
Haden was on a mission to captivate every soul on the floor. First he won the front’s adoration, locking eyes with the devotees already familiar with the sizzling single “Diva” over each stab from Jack Wetmore’s guitar. It was the first cut from the band’s breakthrough debut, “Mosquito,” that started the first proper mosh of the night. A mass of pent-up twenty-somethings collided while shouting, “With a body count higher than a mosquito!” in violent red lighting, like a scene straight from the mind of Julia Ducournau: thrilling, unapologetically queer, and just a little bit horrifying. During another Dogsbody highlight, “Amaranth,” Haden enlisted the crowd’s help in lifting his mic cable while venturing into the sea of bodies, declaring, “I can smell you now, Portland!” during the first of many expeditions. Each time I could barely trace the cord’s path over my head just to see a flash of gloves among the crashing waves.
These forays into the audience (once, fittingly, during the song “Audience”) gave anyone unwilling to surrender their grip on the stage a chance to watch the rest of the band. Each member bashed out their industrial noise with monk-like focus, with Shapiro and Radlauer holding down the metallic rhythm that’s become Model/Actriz’s signature in just a few short years. They performed their supporting role with grace, setting the stage perfectly for Haden soak in the spotlight at every turn. The intensity remained even during the much needed breather “Acid Rain,” with him wringing every drop of emotion from an uncharacteristically delicate ballad. His bare falsetto cracking by the song’s end made me wonder for a moment if I had sweat or tears on my face (it was sweat, but I did have to double check).
That mix of intimacy and intensity is what makes Model/Actriz the absolute force that they are, both live and in the studio. Sure, much of that crowd work - the check-ins between songs, the playful jabs at the small balcony - is no doubt professional and practiced, but there’s a level of commitment to the performance that can’t be faked. The final and most rapturous reception to any song off Pirouette came with the already classic “Cinderella,” a song whose infectious dance revolves around a moment of vulnerability that borders on over sharing. Everyone on the floor matched Cole’s energy and threw themselves into the track with reckless abandon. The exorcism of lust with the finaol one-two knockout of “Crossing Guard” right into “Slate” after was just icing on top.
I’ve seen many a great front person win a crowd through good humor, oddball charm, or pure domination. Hell, I witnessed Nick Cave exercise a masterclass on that last one later that same week on a much larger scale at Moda Center. Haden managed a similar effect with an opposite method, opting to have the crowd eating from his hand by almost assimilating into them. The result was altogether unique and much more personal, like I came away with a piece of the artist. There’s something to be said for the skill it takes to control a large audience and reach to the rafters, but I think I’d take the raw intimacy over that any day. Both get your attention and maybe even your admiration, but only the latter made a masochist of me: jostling against my fellow concert-goers in a blur of make-up, hair, mesh, and leather, overjoyed at each bruise I received.
I was already a fan of Model/Actriz after hearing their debut in 2023. Seeing them at Kilby Block Party a year later had me enamored. After the release of Pirouette and getting to feel their power in such close quarters, I and seemingly everyone else in Mississippi Studios have become something more akin to outright zealots. Given the widespread acclaim, plus a writing credit on the upcoming Miley Cyrus album for Haden, the band’s stock is only going up and up. If you’re interested in catching them when they return to Portland or other U.S. cities in the fall, whether you missed out on this run or you’re just begging for more, I suggest you move fast. The experience is, to call back to the man’s own words on “Cinderella,” utterly divine.
Pirouette is out now via True Panther Sounds / Dirty Hit. You can find the rest of Model/Actriz’s tour dates on their website.
