It is thrilling to witness someone making something difficult look easy. When Clairo released her second album Sling in July 2021, the fear was that its hushed, ornate songs, inspired by the Carpenters and Todd Rundgren, might not have been able to exist outside the introspective conditions of the pandemic.
Performing live, it takes roughly 30 seconds for Clairo, real name Claire Cottrill, to put these doubts to bed. Sitting at a piano, her face is barely visible from even a few rows back due to a conflagration of phones and outstretched arms. She slides into Sling’s first song, Bambi, lit in soft-focus pinks and blues, and the crowd responds by roaring along to each twist and turn, their boisterousness clearly suggesting the show is something of a release valve. On stage, Cottrill can go where she pleases, because the news from the floor is that they are with her.
