Model/Actriz – Pirouette

The followup to Model/Actriz's 2023 debut, Pirouette makes explicit the wide constellation of their influences. Flirting into the melodicism of chart pop, without quite going there, it keeps a firm foot in the dark. Hurtling in with Vespers, like Junior Boys jamming on a bed of hot coals, the first half thunders through with the relentlessness we’d expect – the carnal shrapnel of Cinderella, the menacing Diva. But then comes Headlights, a confession akin to the interludes on The Hotelier’s Goodness, which leads to a surprise: the patient Acid Rain, a guitar ballad, with Thom Yorke-style wails to boot.

Cole Haden’s vocal acrobatics throughout the record, between tongue-in-cheek liturgical spoken word and falsetto crooning, are also reminiscent of Owen Pallett, Jamie Stewart and Perfume Genius. They keep the thundering post-punk with a centre – the searing eye of Model/Actriz’s own storm. Pirouette is an overwhelm – especially in its latter half, where the album’s most atonal tracks Audience and Ring Road sit – but it works. On Pirouette Model/Actriz continue their tightrope walk over chaos and introspection, desire and vulnerability, with camp aplomb. Another vital record from a trailblazing band.

Listen to: Vespers, Departures