Bardot | Los Angeles, CA | June 11, 2018 | Photos: ZB Images |
When the inherently electronic/electro-pop music that you make feels more like rock than not when it’s played live, you know you’re doing it right. At least to my ears.
Hailing from across the pond (Scotland, to be exact) comes Robert Shields bearing post-punk/New Wave-ish and stadium-sized sonics distilled into broad emotional sweeps of revolution under the veil of ONR. (pronounced “honor” or “honour” if it pleases you) and making his Los Angeles debut at It’s A School Night at Bardot which is a “cool kids” kind of thing to do.
And it was a healthy room of eyes and ears who finally got to see/hear the Capitol Records signee deliver his first single, 2017’s “Jericho,” the successive “5 Years Time” and “AMERICAN GODS” and we were pretty damned impressed. Impressed by his upcoming single, “Love In Suburbia,” by how fantastically “5 Years Time” translates live (“massive” is an apropos word for the song’s outro), not to mention fascinated by Shields’ propensity for prowling a stage.
I don’t speak Scottish (the brogue is strong) but I’m pretty sure that he thanked the room for coming: the room seemed pleased to be there. Plus, we finally witnessed that signature move of his: See HERE for further and, yes, it’s an actual thing.
Welcome to Los Angeles, ONR. Come back and see us again soon.
