The lineup posted for the CMJ show on Wednesday night at the Bowery Ballroom misspelled the headliner’s name; it was Ryn Weaver, not Ryan. That’s unlikely to happen
again, although this was, she said,
her “first real show.” (There were warmups in Brooklyn.) Ms. Weaver’s song “OctaHate,” posted on her Soundcloud page, gained a rapidly expanding audience over the summer, and the
club was completely packed.
CMJ 2014
Reports, photos and playlists from the CMJ Music Marathon in New York City.
Ms. Weaver isn’t geared for small cult followings or college radio. Her songs are full-force pop in the victim-to-victory mode: admissions of distress followed by louder, more martial
declarations
of strength and resolve: “I won’t be lonely even when I’m all alone and calling your name,” went one new song.
“OctaHate” and the rest of her new EP, “Promises,” are collaborations with pros like Charli XCX, Benny Blanco and Passion Pit. But her set proved that she’s not a studio confection, even though backing tracks reproduced her backing vocal chorales. Her voice, in real time, is a reedy soprano that hints at a higher register Stevie Nicks, seizing attention a with fluttering vibrato that sharpens the emotional peaks. Still, “OctaHate,” with its Minimalistic plink behind the verses, its calamity-filled lyrics and a floating, piping interlude just before the end, was the least conventional song in the short set, and the most striking one. Let’s hope the quirks persist as the pop machine revs up.
SPOTIFY PLAYLIST
An earlier version of a picture caption in the slide show with this post referred incorrectly to the artist who created the work Kokoro. The artist, Lee Triffon, is a woman.