Mitski arrives as a next-gen idol in Orlando return with Jay Som

THIS LITTLE UNDERGROUND
Mitski and Jay Som, The Plaza Live, April 11

Since showing a provocative but embryonic glimpse here back in 2015 opening up for Hundred Waters at the Dr. Phillips Center, Mitski has rocketed on the thrust of back-to-back critical smashes on Dead Oceans to sit at the head of the current power class of indie rock that's being run by the ladies. What was but a tantalizing sketch then has now returned to Orlando as a fully rendered vision, a primetime name before her own teeming, screaming sellout crowd.

The tension and intensity she showed here in that stark 2015 set is still a pulse that beats in her. It's just stitched more finely in a richer, panoramic tapestry that's finally a fitting canvas for a songwriter of such gift and ambition.

From the start, Mitski moved on stage less like the front of a rock band than the muse of a live music video. Using a table, chair and her budding physical expression to effect stirring enough to frequently ignite the crowd, she commanded the show with real theater.

With movements that were purposeful and evocative, she shined like a pop idol from some near beyond. This is a performer who is clearly measuring what she can cause on stage right now. Given the result and the response, you're looking at a new-generation icon.

Like her stage mien, Mitski's indie sound has taken some palpable pop turns of late. Played perfectly live by an airtight band, it's music that's operating on a high plane of concept and execution. Beyond easy classification, Mitski's vision of pop hovers dynamically at the outer edge of now. She proved herself an original voice early in her meteoric ascendance. But what she's showing on stage and record right now are the game-changing moves of a shooting star looking to forge pop music's tomorrow.

Opener Jay Som, the alias of West Coast artist Melina Duterte, is herself a pretty big, emerging deal as a rising Polyvinyl act. Already in her short career, her bedroom pop has blossomed considerably.

Surrounded by a sturdy band, she made her Orlando debut with lovely songs that rock with an inward ease and even a flourish of orchestral elegance with some violin. It was a mature showing of indie rock radiant with dressed-down, introverted grace that belied her years.


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