Michigan-born, Toronto-raised, LA-based Alexandra Hughes – AKA Allie X – has been cultivating a following over the course of a decade and three studio LPs. And my, what a fanbase she has grown. Her brand of gothic electro-pop has been firmly enshrined in a global fanbase, just as strong in London as either of her hometowns across the Atlantic, the 1980s aesthetic of her music evoking nostalgia while equally firmly forging an independent path here in the 2020s.
Allie X @ Koko
This year’s Girl With No Face LP, dropping back in February, followed up her 2020 sophomore record Cape Code and delivered on the promise tee’d up with that LP. While Cape Cod was more of a collaborative body of work, Girl With No Face is described by Allie as “probably the most distilled and pure version of ‘me’ ever”.
And so at tonight’s packed-out show at Camden’s famous Koko venue in North London, a far more natural home for Hughes perhaps than her last London headline show at the south-of-the-river Electric Brixton, we find her audience expectant.
With Hughes appearing on stage in a wedding dress-chic, flanked by a guitarist and bass/keyboardist, the lights were off and stayed off as 2015 EP CollXtion I’s rather in your face Bitch kicked off proceedings, Allie’s “Xs” chants of “Allie, Allie” bringing a smile to the singer’s face as she emerged.
Latest LP Girl With No Face gets a good airing with Black Eye, Weird World and the record’s title track following in quick succession, Allie’s stunning vocals clearly the star attraction tonight even as her face continues to be shrouded in darkness as pulsing synth-pop straight out of the 1980s reverberates around the Camden venue.
“London, I signed with Twin Records about nine years ago now and I remember at our first meeting at the London office, you know, wouldn’t it be great to play Koko” she says beaming. “I had staying power and here I am!”
“Alright, we’re about to travel back to another era” Hughes offers, welcoming tonight’s support act Tei Shi back to the stage for soulful slow-groove Cape Cod cut Susie Save Your Love, Cecilia Perut’s gorgeous guitar licks complimented by delicious synths.
“I see a John and a Jonathan in the front row, are those really your names?” she harks, diving straight into driving beat and pulsing keys-led John And Jonathan from the new LP before the retro keys intro of Science is met with cheers from the Koko crowd, another soulful cut showing off Hughes’ dynamic vocal range before something new is tried with Girl With No Name “fan favourite” Galina, performed in a higher key and with Allie taking on keys once again, choosing a classic piano sound for a stripped-back rendition, synths and beats returning halfway through.
Allie X @ Koko
Super Duper Party People has the Camden crowd chanting along with it’s spoken-word verses before Allie suggests to “slow it down a little”. “If I sit down, is it going to go off in the room?” she ponders, taking a seat on the edge of the stage as Saddest Smile is aired.
Industrial synths and a hardcore club beat immediately ups the tempo as yet more from the new LP is shared with the gothic-leaning Staying Power before “a demo of a new song” is shared by way of Bon Voyage, driving electronic beats and singular guitar notes underpinning gorgeous vocals.
“Well guys, I think it’s that time in the set where I need to play the c***iest song I’ve ever written” she grins to cheers from the audience as the very in your face Off With Her Tits, again from her third LP, is offered, screaming guitars and vocals topped with more 1980s synths rounding it out.
“You guys feel like a classic?” she asks rhetorically ahead of Super Sunset single Girl Of The Year, the club vibe well and truly embraced by the Koko crowd. Allie shares how she hates pretending to leave and come back on, so her encore songs are played without interruption by way of whistle-along 2017 single Paper Love before club tune Cassanova from her CollXtion II LP winds up the night.
While Hughes’ Allie X LPs haven’t seen the commercial success they rightly deserve, that reaction (or lack thereof) seems to be spurring her on to be bolder, brighter (in a gothically dark way) and sees her giving up on giving a fuck, resulting in a gorgeously resplendant live show I urge you to check out should you ever have the opportunity.
Live review & photography of Allie X at Koko, London on 28th May 2024 by Kalpesh Patel.
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