Let’s Eat Grandma at XOYO review: revelling in a newfound freedom

The inseparable pair are clearly a stronger creative unit than ever
Phoebe Fox
Gemma Samways28 January 2022

Friends since the age of four, Rosa Walton and Jenny Hollingworth had always seemed the most inseparable of musical pairings, so tight-knit they were mistaken for twins at the start of their career. That creative telepathy had always served them brilliantly too, as evidenced in the uncanny outsider-pop of their 2016 debut i, Gemini, and in the euphoric electronic textures of acclaimed 2018 follow-up I’m All Ears.

But the pair were 16/17 when they put out their debut single, so the inevitable need to mature and find their own identities away from each other was always going to emerge, alongside unexpected traumas - shortly after their last album came out, Hollingworth’s boyfriend passed away from cancer. So what happens when that tight relationship is tested to the point of breaking?

This is the backstory behind Two Ribbons, the Norwich-formed duo’s third album, currently slated for release in April. A record of two halves, the first is dedicated to bright synth-pop very much in the vein of I’m All Ears, while the second takes a more minimalist and introspective tack, as exemplified by the exquisite title track, released at the end of 2021. Perhaps unsurprisingly, it’s the more upbeat material that the pair chose to focus on at XOYO.

Beginning with a buoyant outing of latest single Happy New Year, it was embraced with all the fervour of a back catalogue classic, and found Walton visibly feeding off the audience energy, pogoing around the stage, light bouncing off her sequined stage outfit. Similarly, the synth shimmer of Hall of Mirrors more than lived up to fantastically hypnotic renditions of proto-hyperpop banger Hot Pink and sax-flecked epic Falling Into Me.

Where previous tours often have found the pair performing alone, last night they were joined by a drummer and multi-instrumentalist. It was a welcome development, not only adding power to the likes of new song Levitation, but also freeing both singers up to step out from behind their synthesisers, and properly engage with fans. It was clear from their beaming faces between songs that this newfound freedom suits them.

Conversely, the night’s most exciting moments came when the duo dared to drop the tempo. Debut single Deep Six Textbook sounded every bit as gloriously weird as it did the day of its release, six years ago, its slow-burning psychedelia embellished with pat-a-cake hand claps performed live by the pair. Two Ribbons was even better, featuring a genuinely moving vocal from Hollingworth, cocooned in Walton’s gentle guitar strums.

Shorn of the polish of so much contemporary music, there was a beautifully DIY quality to the set, its tiny imperfections only serving to make the duo’s songwriting more evocative. And as we watched the two of them weave around one another or pour instructions into each other’s ears, it was difficult not to be struck by the realisation that - however tortuous a journey it has been to this point - today Let’s Eat Grandma are a stronger creative unit than ever.

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