The natural inclination when discussing Ramona Lisa, the solo project of the immensely talented Caroline Polachek, is to bring up comparisons to her more established synth-pop outfit, Chairlift (best known for scoring an iPod commercial with the excellent "Bruises" back in 2008). However, her dramatic debut London performance would perhaps be better paralleled with Swedish electro-oddball's The Knife, in particular their controversial Shaking The Habitual tour, in that it was less a traditional gig and more a piece of performance art. Yet whilst The Knife shows suffered a surfeit of pretension and a shortfall of substance, Polachek's melding of music and dance proved significantly more interesting and artistically unified. Stylistically, her inspiration seems to be the late 60's- the crisp, sterile retro-futuristic white jumpsuits, the sinister eye motif, the purposefully kitsch choreography. Instruments are nowhere to be seen (a rare example of this being a good thing), audience interaction is restricted to a few words and cleverly-utilised projections augment the beguiling, stylised atmosphere. Yet this impressive stagecraft isn't delivered at the expense of the music, which combines the melodic strengths of her other band with the dreamlike otherworldliness of Julia Holter. A triumphant introduction to Polachek's brave new world, Ramona Lisa are destined to become one of the "must-see" live acts of 2014.
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