Maggie Rogers, tour review: Dance diva with campfire roots

Over a throbbing rhythm, Rogers effortlessly combined rootsy authenticity with electronic arrangements, says Andre Paine
Shimmering folk-pop: Maggie Rogers was overwhelmed by the reaction at her second sold-out show in London
Steve Gillett/Livepix
Andre Paine1 March 2017

It's been quite a year for Maggie Rogers, who went viral with a YouTube video capturing the moment Pharrell Williams was visibly stunned by her songwriting during his masterclass for NYU music students last March.

It was a similarly joyous experience for the several hundred early adopters who secured tickets for her first ever UK dates, which took place at an intimate new venue launched by Ben Lovett from Mumford & Sons.

Like the British folk band, Rogers, 22, started out making music that was all about the banjo — and she had the bucolic upbringing to go with it. Raised in rural Maryland, Rogers was a dedicated hiker and a regular at summer camp.

However, a clubbing experience in Berlin was the epiphany that resulted in beats ultimately displacing the banjo.

Although now based in Brooklyn, she brought her old campfire sound to London Bridge on the stark, opening Color Song, which featured the sampled recording of crickets and a bewitching, reedy voice that hinted at her folk origins.

Dressed to impress in a Christian Joy trouser suit daubed with bright shapes, Rogers soon unleashed her inner dance diva last night. Split Stones featured jerky moves and an urgent, yearning vocal as her band assembled the groove.

She briefly broke into giddy laughter during Dog Years, though the song itself demonstrated a rare maturity. Over a throbbing rhythm, she effortlessly combined rootsy authenticity with electronic arrangements to create a hybrid of shimmering folk-pop.

Rogers revisited her teenage musical apprenticeship on Little Joys, a tune from a 2014 digital release, on which she strummed a reverb-heavy electric guitar.

Not trading in nostalgia: Maggie Rogers is a rising star

But she’s not an artist who stands still or trades in nostalgia — transforming Neil Young’s Harvest Moon into a pulsating club track was a bold move.

Although it’s early days, she had fans singing along to her major label debut EP, including the percussive blizzard of On + Off, during which she whacked a drum pad. Alaska, the song Pharrell adored, was a sumptuous finale.

Apart from the unwelcome wolf whistler, who she swiftly slapped down, Rogers was clearly overwhelmed by the reaction at her second sold-out show in London.

“It’s really incredibly nice to feel all of your warmth and positivity, and meet all the people behind the computer screens that made my dreams come true,” she gushed. The venues are soon going to be getting much bigger for this rising star.

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