The crowd did a mass double-take when Cameron Mesirow of Glasser took the stage at Brooklyn Bowl. She was quite a sight with her Lauren Bacall hair gone dirty, nuclear red geisha-fusion jumpsuit, well-timed kicks and dark glances. The rest of the band wore boiler suits so that the electro-folk ensemble as a whole looked (and sounded) something like Madonna’s oriental period meets Ghostbusters.
The second song of the set was built on a kalimbaphonesque ostinato figure with a Korg Wavestation synth vibe. Halfway through we realized that the ostinato was not a backing track, but was actually played live by the guitarist – making for an intriguing disconnect in the audio-visual experience. Almost all the effects were played live but were midi-triggered, creating an incredible wash of sound that had the crowd swaying. Mesirow scans her lines freely and off-kilter like Björk, while the intense reverb and pitch-processing make her sound like a figure encountered in a dream. Her woops in ‘Apply’ electrified the room. I’ll definitely be picking up Glasser’s album, Ring. — Shirin Borthwick
