Nobody in pop has both the weirdo credentials and voice that Caroline Polachek has. She’s intrigued listeners over the years as one-half of Chairlift, as the electronic/ambient Ramona Lisa (her post-Chairlift solo project), and as a person yelling at a flock of geese. And she is nothing if not prescient and persistent.

In a 2017 interview with Pitchfork, as her band Chairlift was calling it quits, Polachek, in response to questions about her future plans, stated, “I’m making a point not to talk about what’s next, but I will say it’s exciting to be fully in control and to have a full tool kit—I feel like everything up until now has been a form of training.”

When asked about her aspirations and whether she aimed to become a pop star, Polachek replied, “If you mean pop star in the sense of playing ball with radio formats, no. But if you mean it in the sense of building a compelling world that I’m at the center of, that a lot of people are tuned into, then yes. Success will come. Or it won’t. But I think you can only make a go at it in a big way by fully being yourself and taking risks. People can feel risks.”

2019’s Pang, her debut under her name, was a preview of what was to come, with “So Hot You’re Hurting My Feelings” giving her a wider audience than she’s ever had. Expectations were high for her sophomore album, Desire, I Want To Turn Into You, and she effortlessly bounded over them. “Blood and Butter” features a bagpipe solo, and “Fly to You” features Dido with 1990s IDM-inspired production. The fact that she played a sold-out Anthem along with Ethel Cain opening is a clear sign that the masses are arriving at her very fun pop music island.

She showcased her signature octave-hopping, falsetto vocals in front of an island backdrop of rolling hills and a mountaintop. Her band was nestled in the corner while she skipped and hopped across the stage. She has truly come into her own as a performer for the big stage, making huge gestures to the crowd while she spun, jumped, and reached for the sky throughout her set. She closed her set with the quiet, ruminating “Hopedrunk Everasking” and slow-burning “Door” from 2019’s Pang, an appropriate comedown from the high-energy, exciting set she gave fans for the previous hour and a half.

Opening for Caroline Polachek was Ethel Cain and True Blue. See more photos from the show below.

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