Since 2011 it’s been impossible to refer to the kind of late-night synth-pop that imagines long car journeys and neon-lit landscapes without mentioning the word ‘Drive’ (2011). The film and, especially, its soundtrack, have been influential enough to guide the career of The Weeknd himself and to popularize an entire musical movement called synthwave. That soundtrack contained compositions by Cliff Martinez and songs, since then, as famous as ‘Tick of the Clock’ by Chromatics, ‘Nightcall’ by Kavinsky or ‘Under the Spell’ by Desire, all dedicated to the magic and mystery of the evening. The appearance of Chromatics in an episode of the third season of ‘Twin Peaks’ (2017) could not be more symbolic.
Images of ‘Twin Peaks’, yes, from the classic seasons of the nineties, are projected on the screen of the Games People Play tour of Desire, the duo formed by Megan Louise and Johnny Jewel (ex Glass Candy and Chromatics) that this weekend has fallen on Spain. In Barcelona, the Desire concert held at the Sala Apolo, within the Nitsa programme, started at a symbolic hour too, one thirty in the morning. At what time else would this music immersed in the enigma of the nocturnal come to life?
But, coincidentally, Desire’s live performance, in addition to being mysterious, is also fun. The songs, like ‘Black Latex’ or ‘If I Can’t Hold You’, talk about long car trips and dancing all night and, above all, waiting in love for the call of the person you love, surrendered to their irresistible grooves. synth-pop and noir. In other words, they express a rabidly adolescent feeling… a feeling that Desire takes to self-parody, live, in various ways.
For example, Desire simulates a telephone conversation using an old roulette telephone on stage. At another point in the show, Megan dances while holding a skull head in her hands, because giallo cinema is also an influence of the Italians Do it Better label. At all times, Megan has a smile on her face. Happy, she sings and dances for the enthusiastic audience, while her keyboardist to her right, and Johnny Jewel to her left, appear stoic.
At the end of the set, just before the encore, Megan hands out flowers to the audience, as if celebrating her own funeral. Megan buries her heart, but she will continue dancing until her body can bear it: the concert ends with the house-pop of ‘Drama Queen’, a song so inspired by Madonna’s ‘Vogue’ that she doesn’t even bother to hide it. In any case, the concert ends on a high note.
Jewel acts as an entertainer at some point in the show, inviting people to clap and, at another point in the night, Megan and Johnny express complicity by pretending to “shoot” each other. But Jewel remains crouched at almost all times, and would go unnoticed if his black jacket didn’t have more spikes attached to it than a hedgehog. In contrast, Megan wears a cherry red croptop and black skirt, and finishes her look with a little red bow: she looks like Audrey Horne in otaku style, reinforcing the adolescent component of her character. A component also present in Jewel’s black tear makeup.
In the Games People Play Tour repertoire there are old songs like ‘Don’t Call’ – with that great and dramatic production that grows so much live – and other new ones still unreleased that are still glued to the dance floor. In fact, it cannot be said that ‘Under Your Spell’ represents the climax of a concert that knows how to go from the pure longing of ‘Darkside’ to the mechanized euphoria of ‘Silver Machine’. In the middle, Desire has a successful version of ‘Bizarre Love Triangle’ by New Order that doesn’t clash as much with the setlist as it might seem.
