Class Actress plays the role of siren at CMJ

October 27, 1:47 AMNY Modern Rock ExaminerBianca Seidman-Shvarts

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Class Actress at Pianos for Terrible Records. All photos © Bianca Seidman-Shvarts.

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Class Actress assumes the comparison to Chairlift, another Electro-Pop band from Brooklyn with female vocals.  But if the music has some similiarities, the live show is on a different wavelength entirely.  

The 80s were a huge influence amongst the many electronic-based bands at CMJ and Class Actress took that influence further than most.  Channeling Blondie and maybe a little early Madonna, Elizabeth Harper of Class Actress sang spritely, upper range Dance-Pop hooks backed by low-fi jingly synths played on a nameless, wood-paneled keyboard.  The fun, retro style with deceptively sharp lyrics got the audience moving and Harper's clear, strong, but wispy voice is reminiscent of Harriet Wheeler of the Sundays. 

But Class Actress' live performance is not one for the meek.  For all her considerable musical prowess, Elizabeth Harper's enthusiastic delivery and jumping on stage took on another level when she bared down to a lingerie camisole and moved suggestively to the beats while she pushed them on her sequencer.  It was as if she was playing to the cameras when she combed through her hair or wound the mic cord around herself like a snake.  While that sort of show is common in the big arenas of the Pop star world, it was a bit polarizing for an audience in a small venue and took aways some of the "just pure fun" spirit of the music.  The thing is that she didn't need to add that bit of sensationalism because the music, particularly Harper's enchanting voice, is infectious just by itself. 

All photos © Bianca Seidman-Shvarts.

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