SIERRA LIVE AT THE ZENITH, PARIS

We weren’t expecting this … In the days leading up to tonight’s show at Le Zénith, both Hutch and I had immersed ourselves in the music of SIERRA, acknowledging that this was not normally “our thing” but as ever prepared to give it a go for the sake of professionalism. I for one had always had to be in the right mood for any blend of electronic, industrial music that didn’t also include at least a drummer and guitarist and these days it rarely my thing. Hutch was complaining incessantly, questioning why we were finally kicking-off our long-discussed idea for a rock webzine with something that we would struggle to explain even to ourselves which category we were going to shoehorn this article into. Synthwave. Darkwave. These labels are intriguing enough on their own, but it’s not rock, is it? A little homework was going to be required.

Annelise Morel began to write music under the name SIERRA as recently as 2017 and you really have to wonder if she would have imagined back then, after what would turn out to be only three available gigging-years later, that she would be standing onstage in front of an almost sold-out Zenith in the north-east of Paris as soon as this, or indeed, ever. Obviously, she has Carpenter Brut to thank for taking her out on tour, but there is always a reason an artist ends up in these positions in the first place. 

Still grumbling when we arrived at the venue, the thing that stopped Hutch quickly disappearing off to the bar for the hour or so we had before Horskh were due to hit the stage (who were of course our original reason for coming here tonight) was the sight of the place being almost full in anticipation of SIERRA’S set. It wasn’t even 7pm. Even Hutch was aware what this meant.

It was a different Zénith vibe than we were used to, the crowd was definitely an unaccustomed mix, but by the end of the entire three-act show we realised that the line-up tonight of SIERRA/Horskh/Carpenter Brut, this gathering of all-French talent, was one of genius. Asides from those here only to see the headliner the audience were probably comprised of either SIERRA/Carpenter Brut fans or Horskh/Carpenter Brut fans … and nobody will have left disappointed. Horskh and SIERRA, artist who essentially appeal to completely different audiences are of course, combined, the essence of Carpenter Brut’s style. But that’s another story. 

By the time SIERRA walked out alone onto that Zenith stage it wouldn’t be a lie to suggest that after spending a week absorbed in her sounds I had a slight feeling of nervousness on her behalf – the stage suddenly looked a lot bigger than it usually did. 

There is a lot of space to fill up there.

But fill it she did, impressively, and it did not take long to realise that we could have so easily missed out on something that, quite frankly, rocked.

Backed by a light show which was enough even on its own to create an atmosphere of a dark, dystopian city, a post-apocalyptical scene (using what appeared to be a minimum of neon strip lights) the show filled the stage and indeed the entire Zenith itself. There were no rough edges here. Silky smooth, solid light, colour and most importantly, sound.

The energy generated by the sound system is matched by the energy of SIERRA herself from behind her setup, taking the mic to sing occasionally (and later to inform us, as if we hadn’t already been able to witness this for ourselves, how important this night was for her) you could feel her enjoyment and her confidence, one no doubt feeding the other, and there was definitely a sense of being present at someone’s homecoming. This was a show that conveyed emotion in various forms. It was a world that you could feel immersed within, if only, sadly, for a short while.

The momentum had built continuously from the first notes and by the time we got to penultimate track, Unpredictable, and the then seemingly never ending crescendo of Trapped, we found ourselves lost in the spirit of it all By the end of her set even Hutch has to admit that he was now a fan … and with that godly stamp of approval we’ll be heading up to the Point Ephémère in April to see what she has in store for us next.