It’s the most gorgeous evening London has had so far this year. It’s thirty degrees celsius outside and the pavements are lined with gatherings of people enjoying ice cold pints and aperol spiritzs. 

It’s so sunny and beautiful today that I imagine that Mallrat, an Australian musician, singer and rapper is feeling right at home. Travelling across the world from her native city of Brisbane, Queensland, she’s performing at EartH in London to continue her tour celebrating her second album, ‘Light Hit My Face Like A Straight Right’, released on Valentine’s Day of this year. She’s heading towards the end of her European tour, having already performed sold out shows in cities including Amsterdam and Berlin.

The show is opened by Finnish musician duo Pearly Drops, comprised of Sandra Tervonun and Juuso Malin. Their dreamy electronic pop sets us up for the evening, warming up the crowd with uniquely mesmerizing melodies and 80s nostalgia-tinged dreampop.

Mallrat’s show starts with a melodic introduction, a piece of music playing that wouldn’t be out of place in an episode of David Lynch’s ‘Twin Peaks’. Fresh off the back of her show in Paris, she comes onto stage full of confidence as she starts with the hauntingly beautiful ‘My Darling, My Angel’. Second and third on the set list are ‘Pavement’ and ‘Wish On An Eyelash’. Despite the show predominantly celebrating her newest album, tracks from her debut record, ‘Butterfly Blue’ and EPs before that, slot in perfectly, which is a testament to the strength of her dreampop sound.

We’re treated to a blending of ‘Light Streams In And Hits My Face’ and ‘Hocus Pocus’, before ‘Ray of Light’ and ‘Something for Somebody’. Before playing ‘Defibrillator’, Mallrat lets us know about her love for language, and how she wrote this song as the title is her favourite English word. It was then time for ‘Teeth’, a fan favourite from her 2022 album ‘Butterfly Blue’, and the ease at which she switches between her new material and older songs proves how confident she is in her work. The songs may come from two different albums, but her message and core sound remains the same.

The cheer that ‘Groceries’ received is electric – it’s a definite fan favourite, as proven by the 100 million plays on Spotify alone since it was released as part of 2018’s ‘In The Sky’ EP. The crowd sing along with her, reaching full volume as they sing ‘I just wanna get groceries / I’ll pray you wanna get close to me / I’ll give it some, give it some, give it some time / But I think we’re supposed to be.’

As we reach the final third of the set, we get ‘Heart Guitar’, ‘Virtue’ and ‘Horses’, before a real old fan favourite, ‘Charlie’, named after her beloved family dog. The crowd enthusiastically sang back the lyrics: ‘I want coffee for breakfast / I just want warm cups of tea / I just might love you forever / I hope you warm up to me / I think you might be an angel.’ 

With a quick warning that it’s almost time to end, Mallrat doesn’t do an encore, but carries on with the penultimate song, ‘Rockstar’. It’s electric inside the venue and I can barely hear Mallrat over the sheer volume of the fans singing: ‘Maybe, I’ll fall in love with a rockstar / We’ll be married forever / I’ll forget all about you one day / Maybe, when I’ve won all the Grammys / And I’ve got my own family / I’ll forget all about you one day. We finish the night with a combination of  ‘Hideaway’ and ‘Love Songs’, and as we leave and step out into the balmy night air, we all leave with a bit more hope and magic in our hearts.

SETLIST

My Darling, My Angel
Pavement
Wish On An Eyelash
Surprise Me
The Worst Thing I Would Ever Do
Light Streams In And Hits My Face / Hocus Pocus
Ray of Light
Something for Somebody
Defibrillator
Teeth
Groceries
Heart Guitar
Virtue
Horses
Charlie
Rockstar
Hideaway / Love Songs