SXSW Music Review: Superorganism

Superorganism’s Wednesday night debut at Stubb’s looked and sounded like a Technicolor cartoon spaceship, with teen vocalist Orono Noguchi at the helm as a pint-sized Captain Kirk.

World Cafe host Talia Schlanger introduced the NPR Music showcase, admitting that despite rampant claims of the internet ruining music, this group wouldn’t exist without it. The web-connected sevenpiece on the outdoor stage ranged from London, Australia, and New Zealand, as well as Japan-born Noguchi, who the group nabbed up from boarding school in Maine. Now cohabitating in a hit-making London household, the crew touched down at SXSW for its first U.S. dates with a newborn self-titled debut on Domino Records.

Emerging in a rainbow of raincoats, glittery cheeks, and ribboned tambourines, the celebratory assemblage launched into jarring album intro “It’s All Good.” All but the drummer joined in on vox for a riotous, super-saturated choir. The multi-part live renditions re-created the album’s bubbly, busting production dead-on, phone buzzing, cork popping, and underwater effects included.

Lead voice Noguchi quickly established herself as the nonchalant MC, delivering sweetly melodic chat raps on a handheld mic. Foiling the splashy, choreographed moves of the triple backing vocalists, the world-weary singer wore jeans and a Superorganism sweatshirt. A natural deadpan performer, Noguchi hammed it up, polling the crowd for her band’s name and leading spaghetti arm waves for the electro twinkling of “Night Time.”

The septet, missing a reported eighth member, concluded with triumphant iterations of takeoff singles “Everybody Wants to Be Famous” and “Something for Your M.I.N.D.” Addressing her own elevation, the charisma-fueled frontwoman peered over the packed house for a final ad lib.

“This is sick. You guys in the back can actually see me even though I’m short as fuck!”