This is just conjecture, because I have never been a musician, but I would imagine that playing a show to ten people in a city five hundred miles from home might not be the most exhilarating experience. So, if you are able to play with grace and good humour in such conditions—and after both of your support acts cancel on the night—you’re doing something right.
Theoretical Girl, the brainchild of Essex multi-instrumentalist Amy Turnnidge, rises to the challenge of organisational disaster and a lacklustre turnout at Sneaky Pete’s with considerable panache, developing a dialogue with the audience and taking the show far beyond any reasonable expectations of an ‘intimate’ set. Despite the absence of her usual backing band—replaced for the evening by an ad hoc pairing of a trucker-capped drummer and an Afro-sporting giant of a bassist—Theoretical Girl amble through a superb forty-five minutes of unashamedly twee electro-infused pop. The wistfully lovelorn “Divided” is a particular pleasure, while the evening takes a darker turn with “Red Mist” and its interplay of jagged guitars and slightly gothic vocal line. The highlight, however, is the undoubtedly sugary ’60s-style pop ballad of “The Boy I Left Behind”.
Unfortunately, the band make the classic small-venue mistake of allowing the rhythm section to swamp the vocals, at times rendering Turnnidge’s naturally tuneful voice almost inaudible. In a venue as cramped as Sneaky Pete’s, micing the drumkit is just overkill, and takes a little of the shine off what is otherwise a highly polished performance. Despite this, and the lack of the eclectic range of instrumentation that fleshed out debut album Divided, Theoretical Girl nonetheless succeed in delivering an enjoyable and energetic set to a crowd who grow consistently more appreciative with every song.
If you’re a fan of raw statistics, you could consider the fact that more than half the audience went straight up and bought the album after the band left the stage— a good number by anyone’s standards.
Our Verdict:
Marcus Kernohan is the founding editor of Stereokill. 
