MARIKA HACKMAN arrives in Glasgow off the back of her third and most accomplished record to date ‘Any Human Friend’. If 2017’s ‘I’m Not Your Man’ was a big step in shaking off her previous folk label, full of straight to the point lyrics and scuzzy instrumentals, then ‘Any Human Friend’ is its bold and brazen follow-up that has seen her take even bigger strides forward.
A deeply personal album, it also sees Hackman at her most confident as she delves into remarkably open experiences of love, sex, heartbreak, self-loathing and everything inbetween, offering up a startlingly honest portrait of queer identity, anxiety, empowerment and human imperfection. And aside from the overwhelming number of positive reviews the album received when it was released in August, it’s clear that Hackman’s witty and filter-free songwriting has struck a chord with a lot of people – particularly those enthusiastic devotees who gather at the Oran Mor on this dreary Monday night.
To listen to ‘Any Human Friend’ is to clamber right into Marika Hackman’s psyche and this directness is accentuated in her equally captivating live show. Opening with a sparse, solo rendition of ‘Wanderlust’, the boilersuit-clad frontwoman is joined by her three-piece band for the low-slung grooves of ‘the one’; a devilishly fun and infectious track that tackles the doctrine of self-love. “Love me more/ Rub me ’til my ego’s raw/ I’ve got BDE/ I think it’s a venereal disease” she quips, setting the tone for the night and receiving a rapturous response from the crowd.
“It’s about to get sexy” she tells the room after an upbeat rendition of crowd favourite ‘My Lover Cindy’, launching into ‘all night’ from ‘Any Human Friend’. It’s a lustful and candidly carnal take on female desire – one that seduces the crowd with melodic guitars, rolling drums and her dulcet vocal tones before descending into distorted reverb at the climax. Meanwhile, with an extended intro, ‘hand solo’ goes down a storm – the anthem dedicated to female pleasure revels in laying it all bare
It’s these moments of blunt honesty that receive some of the biggest cheers of the night, particularly from the throng of devotees at the front who shower Hackman with compliments between songs. A self-assured and captivating presence onstage, there’s a warmth and wit that shines through above all else, whether she’s disarming the crowd with witty, subtly shared stories of queer sex or sharing toes and froes with those down the front. Such is the quality of her songwriting, it’s a show that requires no frills and while it may be a Monday night, there’s a tangible buzz in the air that’s positively infectious.
With a huge supply of great melodies and punchy hooks, the hour long set mostly shifts between the more fuzzed up ‘Any Human Friend’ and ‘I’m Not Your Man’ while ‘Ophelia’ and ‘Drown’ from 2015’s ‘We Slept at Last’ offer quieter moments of folk-tinged melancholy.
What’s clear is that her lyrical bluntness has been paired with a broadening of her sonic palette. Accessible and experimental in equal measure, her live show benefits from these new textures – whether its jolting 80s synths, motorik rhythms or bright indie pop licks. With her beatific voice bringing it all together, there’s a gentle blend of guitars, keys and electronics that feels perfectly weighted yet raw and dishevelled at the same time.
‘Boyfriend’, ‘I’m Not Your Man’s breakout single, remains the perfect main set closer though, grungy, explosive and brilliantly raucous before an encore of ‘Cigarettes and an equally fun ‘Blahblahblah’, a catchy ode to teenage exuberance. It’s the perfect end to a show from an artist who just keeps getting better and better.
