Mallrat draws City Rats to Elsewhere for sold out New York Return

Last Friday afternoon, under an overcast and drizzly sky, a line began to form down Johnson Ave. On the block that divides East Williamsburg from Bushwick, rising Australian pop star Mallrat played a sold-out double bill with former NYC-based Anna Shoemaker at the multistage event space, Elsewhere. The venue hosts overlapping events on its various stages and floors. The Hall (Elsewhere’s name for its main stage) was set for the night’s concert while a DJ spun on the roof, and a full venue club takeover was set to follow.

As the 7:30 PM doors approached, the line had nearly reached the end of the block and would soon begin to wrap around. The show was 16+ and sold mostly to a female audience. The line was quiet; not a ton of talking besides a few groups peppered here and there. The people who had been waiting longer seemed to have run out of things to talk about and could then only focus on the anticipation of being let inside. The girl in line next to me placed her phone on the ground and rested it against the building along the sidewalk to take a selfie before having second thoughts and nearly bailing before she mustered the courage and took the picture.

This was Mallrat’s first show in New York in three years, and the feeling of nervous excitement permeates every aspect. Besides the pre-show jitters of fans determined to see their favourite artist for the first time in years, there was also the anticipation of fans reuniting with Anna Shoemaker after she committed the worst coastal crime in the book by moving from NYC to LA. Those who found it in their heart to forgive her came out to cry their support for their heartbroken pop hero.

The Hall maxes out at around 1,000 attendees, and the floor was as near to full as I could tell for the opening act. No fewer than 18 disco balls hung from the ceiling and each had its own colored light focused on it, casting small colourful beams of light around the room and washing the whole space in a psychedelic rainbow. The front row before the stage was lined with the diehards in attendance who passed the time chatting about their favourite shows, songs, and other artists. The mostly female audience created a vibe of camaraderie in the crowd rather than one of competition. Mixed gender shows tend to come with more displays of chest puffing and posturing for floor space.

Moments before the show began, Anna’s loved ones came out from backstage to take a place in the crowd. Her friends came out into the pit to lead the cheering and get a good vantage point for a photo and video. Her boyfriend stood alone directly to the side of the stage, often putting one hand on the railing divider as his partner sang. She turned and performed much of the set, smiling, to him or to her friends. Anna had incredible chemistry with her performing and writing partner, Aaron Kennedy, the duo seemingly like two halves of one whole. They both play the show sitting down and mostly on a pair of acoustic guitars. Kennedy, however, would swap his wooden axe for an electric here and there and also has a sample pad he could use for rhythm and backing tracks. The duo wrapped their set after a heartbreakingly quick 30 minutes. The music was mellow and emotional, and the guitars intertwined beautifully with the soft harmonies, and it left the audience wishing the set could have lasted hours.

After a quick set change, the lights dropped, and spotlights began roaming The Hall as if searching for something. The high contrast look stayed constant throughout the show. The lights stayed bright and mostly white and the wings of the stage stayed bathed in darkness, except for those moments when strobes or fill lights would blast the area or the disco balls and light up the whole room.

Mallrat was made up of the titular Mallrat (Grace Shaw), a drummer and an accompanying synth player, though Grace was the focal point of the performance. She would sing from three primary points on stage (centre-stage, stage-left, or stage-right), either standing tall or squatted down, knees against her chest. Between locations and songs, she would drift around the stage almost purposelessly or she would dance and hop her way there as the song broke down.

Grace sang extremely well and mixed in interesting vocal mods to add some uniqueness to her hyper pop sound. The music she played was bedroom brat, a spiritual cousin to Charli XCX in the hyper pop space, but with the raw emotion and ruggedness that bedroom producers are known for. This allowed her to create an intimacy at her show that came from that vulnerability. The audience met her in that state of feeling and allowed themselves to feel authentically with her before the song drops, and in all that authenticity, they party. It’s a recipe for success, and as Grace Shaw continues to grow as an artist, so too will her popularity and success.

Catch the Duo of Anna Shoemaker and Mallrat on tour this spring and summer before they inevitably start playing much larger venues.