Cameron Mesirow aka Glasser has been getting nothing but praise since her debut LP, Ring, came out in September. From before the album’s release she had been getting comparisons with a whole range of enviously talented female artists and since being thrown in at the deep end, supporting The xx on their UK tour as her first tour outside of California, she has done nothing but thrive.
Tonight she visits Glasgow for the first time on her own headline European tour and the prospect of a hot and sweaty Rest tonight has most people appetites wet.
The somewhat bizarre image of Glasser’s three-piece band emerging on stage in matching boiler suits is only topped when Mesirow takes the stage herself in rather kooky stage attire complete with helmet like headwear and garnished with pompoms.
The dress is eye catching to say the least but it is what has brought the crowd along tonight, it is the material from Ring, which gets full airing tonight. The almost tribal sounding, double drummer attack on album standout ‘Apply’ gets the set going and from then on Mesirow and co. look set to cruise.
Mesirow’s quirky almost trance driven dances fluctuate between instrumental sections only for her to regain focus from nowhere to fill the room with her angelic voice. Mesirow bobs, ducks and sways around the stage, amid glitchy synth croaks giving the occasional yelp drawing attention but it’s always a pleasant surprise when she draws back into her mesmorising vocals.
There is a touch of nerves kicking about this evening, the delicate beauty of the songs seems to have the crowd pushed a step away from the stage, almost as if they fear they might break it. This doesn’t seem to worry Mesirow as she banters about her grandfather being from Glasgow adding, “everybody thinks I’m Irish” before going into the delightful ode to her best friend, ‘T’.
Tracks like ‘Home’, ‘Glad’, ‘Tremel’ and ‘Mirrorage’ finish off the rest of the set each emphasising the talent Merisow has in putting together mystical elctropop gems.
As Merisow shyly reemerges, minus headwear, she explains she never intended to do an encores on this tour, stating they’ve played the whole album which receives a heckle of “play it again” that she giggles off before gaining composure.
She explains she is going to do an a’cappella performance of a folk song called ‘Let No Man Steal You Time’, which receives another shout of “can I steal you time?” which receives a blunt “no”. The song itself goes some way to justify that “no”, as the haunting splendor of her vocals silences the whole room, leaving everyone expects Mesirow herself breathless.
Before the show tonight we had caught up with the genius behind Glasser, Cameron Mesirow, to talk about the tour and what she thinks about all the comparisons and praise she has been getting.
Q: This is your first headline tour in Europe, how has it been so far?
A: The shows so far have been ok, I’m not going to rave about them but it’s been a pretty good tour in terms of how we’re all feeling. Hopefully Glasgow will show up those down in England, it seems like a good crowd down there already.
Q: This is your first time in Glasgow, have you had a chance to see much of Glasgow while you’ve been here?
A: Not really, we took a little walk to Òran Mór and tried a few different whiskeys’, we were told that is what they are famous for, that’s all we’ve seen just the walk from here to there. I’m kind of excited to be here anyway, my grandfather came from here, he wasn’t a performer like my parents but his name was Cameron like me.
Q: Could you give us a description of your sound for anyone unfamiliar with it?
A: It sounds just like The Rolling Stones basically! (laughs) No it’s really hard to know how to classify, it’s electronic music that doesn’t sound like electronic music.
Q: There have been a lot of comparisons being banded about with a lot of varying different female artists, what do you make of this?
A: I think what stands out the most is that the comparisons are female, I doesn’t seem to matter what the music is like as long as there’s a female vocalist
Q: How have you reacted about the across the board positive reviews Ring has been getting?
A: I have barely seen a review myself I try not to read too much about it.
Q: How did you enjoy making the album?
A: I think with anything you’ve wanted to do for a long time and feel intimidated about doing there’s a lot of brow beating and questioning, if you’re doing a good thing or not. I can’t say it was the happiest experience that I just skipped though but I do feel good about it.
Q: You’re playing Primavera in the May, the line up looks amazing, anyone you fancy seeing while you’re there?
A: I’m really curious to see Pulp, is Suicide playing? I think Suicide are playing and I’m really excited to see Echo and the Bunnymen, I think they’re playing Ocean Rain, which is my favourite.
Q: What sort of stuff do you listen to while you’re on tour?
A: We listen to all kinds of things in the van, today we listened to Micachu and the Shapes who I’d never heard before, Sam Cooke, Lil Wayne, some techno from Berlin, D’Angelo so lots of different stuff.
Q: Finally, are you going to get out in Glasgow after the show?
A: I can’t go out because I’ll loose my voice, I have to go home all the time after the shows, I’m trying to be a professional.
Photo: Stewart Fullerton
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