Electric Boston four-piece Model/Actriz tore up the East Midlands - or, at least, Rescue Rooms - with a mighty performance for the ages...
The wide array of artists that our city pulls to its venues is first class. And at Rescue Rooms last week, it was certainly no different. This time, the 450-capacity ballroom was home to a Cinderella from across the pond...
The night began, however, with special guest and support SIJYA. A hotly-tipped talent from South Asia, the soloist perfected a distinctive cut of indie electronics, mostly taken from her recent EP Leather & Brass, released just last year.
Then, the procession swooned in: a visceral experience of all available senses, the work of Model/Actriz began. In a lane all on their own, their sonics are a melding between industrial noise-rock and dance-punk - with an added queer flamboyancy that makes it all the more captivating.
A former Berklee advocate, vocalist Cole Haden soon dominated the room, taking up every crevice and corner as he performed up, close and personal with the entire audience - both on the floor and up on the balcony. The eerie, dark atmosphere and fog machine turned up to 10 set the visual expectations. Pairing this with their trademark heavy, mechanical beats with danceable grooves made for a hugely entertaining and highly theatrical affair.
The thematic elements exceeded the limiter and pushed us up to eleven as Haden infused his lyrics with sexual expression and diva worship. The frontman himself expressed it as "a gay person working in a genre that's not very outwardly gay" - which makes it all the more fascinating. Think Gaga on full throttle.
This was captivating, emotional, tense - all the adjectives possible. Out of the incessant fog emerged Haden pirouetting as he conducted the band from one supercharged clamour into the next. Noisy bristles of Mosquito and Crossing Guard from 2023's debut Dogsbody featured, as did Vespers and Diva taken from last-year's follow-up Pirouette. A stronger broadening of sound from one project to the next, the polyrhythmic touches and the ever-present build-ups of tension remain as representations of the core of this band.
Model/Actriz's experimental mix of music is even more extraordinary when you realise that nothing is done through triggers, samples or paddings. It is purely through the live instruments they have at their disposal.
With Haden's lyrics stepping up a gear, the band are taking a more emotional direction which brings greater possibilities for their future sounds as we head into autumn's gig season. This is a time they have had tremendous success with already, boasting festival spots at Primavera and Coachella this Summer.
Nottingham's date ended the band's stint in the UK and it was truly a performance to remember, with Model/Actriz showing us all why they are most talked about bands in the alternative sphere right now.
Model/Actriz performed at Rescue Rooms on 8 September 2026.
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