Alexandra Savior looks nervous as she steps onto the stage in front of a sell out crowd at Oslo in Hackney. Her voice wavers on the first line of her opening song, ‘Frankie’. The anxiety doesn’t last long, however. Soon she’s teasing the audience – pausing and raising an eyebrow as she sings “you’ve gotta make me come”. The assembled company claps like crazy as ‘Frankie’ comes to a close. Her confidence boosted, Savior segues into ‘Bones’, the hypnotic song which shows why Alex Turner was so keen to work with her.
For her fourth son, ‘Mirage’, Savior slips into the guise of alter ego, Anna-Marie Mirage, an artist who seems to be oppressed by a higher power.
The delicate ‘Girlie’ receives one of the biggest cheers of the evening – the song is well known after the NME shared a video of Miss Savior performing it with a certain Mr Turner. But while it’s clear to see Turner has added a few touches to some of Savior’s songs, his influence should not be overstated: they already have a warm and personal feel about them which is unique to her.
At some point in the show, a small group of lads take it upon themselves to start singing Shadow Puppets songs, but they get short shrift from the rest of us.
After 40 minutes Savior declares “I’m not gonna do an encore, I don’t wanna mess with your minds”, adding (only half-joking) “and I don’t have any more songs”. But closer ‘Mystery Girl’ is an epic, with Savior acting out every word: her usually soft voice turns into a violent growl as she shouts “don’t you try and calm me down”. Now tongue in cheek, she uses the same voice to growl “Good night”.
Having left the stage, Alexandra Savior remains the most exciting new artist of 2017.
