Concert Review: Clairo Charmed Moody Theater with Quiet Confidence

Clairo made the crowd “wanna go dancing” at her second Austin stop of the Charm Tour on Oct. 1.

Written by Janie Bickerton

Photo courtesy of Naina Srivastava/The Daily Texan

Summer heat may have lingered outside Moody Theater, but inside the historic venue, two enchantresses ushered in October with their teasingly assured vocals and spellbinding instrumentals. 

Claire Cottrill, better known by her stage name Clairo, has cemented her place as a bedroom-pop mainstay since her 2017 viral single “Pretty Girl.” With her 2024 album Charm, she nestles into a warm, blissful sound that transforms but honors her lo-fi beginnings. Charm has already proved a seminal work for Clairo for its quietly confident register and vintage vulnerability.

To set the enchanting mood, indie-pop singer Alice Phoebe Lou promptly began her 8:00 p.m. set centered around the impossible balance between self-love and hopeless yearning. Donning a simple gray camisole, skinny jeans, and a green scrunchie, the South African artist announced herself as the “little appetizer of the night” and dove into “Touch,” complete with beachy keys and a strong vocal performance. Lou then clutched her chest and swayed, reclaiming herself by singing “Open My Door.” No longer people-pleasing, Lou confidently uttered to open the chorus, “I’m picking up the pieces of me.” This assuredness flowed into her flirty, sapphic song “Dusk,” where she traded wide hand movements for plucks at her guitar. After the intriguing galactic synths of “Glow” and raw revelations of “Only When I,” the singer treated the audience for their attentiveness. Adding “Lover // Over the Moon” to the Austin setlist, Lou captivated the crowd with her swooning vocals and her band’s shaking percussion and hushed snare. She then rewarded Austin’s second night with an acoustic version of “Angel,” a heavy track where she felt trapped by overwhelming desires that do not manifest in reality, asking, “Is it safe to go outside?” The indie artist put her soft sound to rest for grittier rock and faster beats on “Lose My Head” and “Dirty Mouth.” Lou thanked the crowd one last time for their reverence before playing her biggest hit, “Witches,” which perked up the crowd and filled the theater with a final flourish of her impassioned vocals and untouchable witchcraft.

Photo by Natalie Anspach

The crowd, fittingly a sea of maxi skirts, earth tones, and denim, patiently awaited Clairo’s 9:13 p.m. theatrical opening. The lights dimmed as Clairo and her band sat down for a drink and staged conversation while Wendy Rene’s 1964 ballad “After Laughter (Comes Tears)” played. The band members then sauntered to their stations to kick off the show with Charm’s second single, “Nomad.” Quiet vocals juxtaposed heart-pounding drums as Clairo stood centerstage and sang about failing to escape a lover’s grasp. Wearing headphones and a slim-fitting, blue and brown corset dress, Clairo’s stage presence matched the reserved sensuality that envelops her album’s aesthetics. To further represent Charm’s sound, the stage captured the fuzzy ‘70s allure that Clairo has adopted with its conversation pit setup, beige and silver backdrop, and yellow and cream instruments.

The indie star traded the psychedelic guitar licks of “Nomad” for strong keys in woodsy bop “Second Nature.” Clairo, limited by her wire microphone, stepped around mindfully while uttering teasing vocals identical to the recording. After a stunning clarinet solo from band member Hailey Niswanger, a large fluorescent light lowered to enshrine Clairo as she sang the muted, upbeat track, “Thank You,” to which the crowd softly bobbed their heads.

The set then transitioned from new Charm classics to older hits, beginning with the 2019 Immunity favorite “Softly.” “Austin, do you know this song?” she curtly asked the audience as happy, dreamy keys introduced the love song. In a rare moment of artist and audience connection, she let the crowd sing, “Closer, baby? I want you,” and gave a small, shy curtsy to end the song. Clairo continued the flirtatiousness with her coy performance of “Flaming Hot Cheetos,” and the band flourished for the song’s driving lyric, “I wanna be the one you think about at night.” The projected earth and watercolors behind her shifted to leafy silhouettes for “How,” the quiet closer of her 2018 EP diary 001. The crowd stayed silent yet alert as Clairo leaned against a desk and faced the back of the stage at the song’s end. Her first nod to her 2021 album Sling, Clairo and her crew dazzled while playing “Bambi,” which featured a powerful chest voice from Clairo and a shift to flute from Niswanger.

Shifting back to her summer release, the singer smiled as her microphone cut off briefly, which only added to the cuteness of her song “Terrapin.” The onomatopoetic synergy between her humming, the synthesizer, and the flute put a trance on the audience, who quickly perked up when Clairo challenged them to “be better than night one” for the bouncier track “Add Up My Love.” She stayed true to the recording for most of her songs, but she sprinkled in some sparing adlibs and approached the crowd for the deceivingly upbeat tune about a love that’s merely a memory. She quickly returned to her demure disposition for her 2019 song “North,” as she stayed still while her electric guitar and Niswanger’s saxophone kept the ambiance lively.

Darkness enshrouded the theater before the large overhead stagelight returned, resembling the witchy, wintry feel of her compelling tone in “Echo.” After a modest “Thank you,” Clairo focused on her craft with “Glory of the Snow” and “Slow Dance,” closing her eyes to be present in her sound while distancing herself from the crowd. She carried on the subdued tone by featuring only piano and herself at the beginning of “Harbor,” later bringing in the rest of the band for the ballad. The crowd took this emotional opportunity to raise their flashlights, but Clairo was so enraptured in her own space that she kept her eyes closed, missing the sea of phone lights. She did impart a genuine grin on the crowd during the outro, but her dedication to her sound established a barrier between the stage and the audience.

Sitting at the desk, Clairo played the mellotron for “Partridge” as the circular light descended to become her roof and separate her from her band. The drums intensified for the Sling song where she struggled to let go of someone who’s already leaving: “I'm sorry I have to hold you longer than you expected / It's only temporary.” Niswanger left the crowd in awe with her standout saxophone performance, proving that she was one of the most charming components of the tour. 

The nature imagery persisted with a projection of the moon and branches behind the band for “Pier 4,” Charm’s somber closer. The crowd snapped out of their melancholy daze with “4EVER,” in which the singer swapped the original lo-fi sound for a samba beat rooted in percussion. By adding shakers to the previously synthy song, Clairo successfully matched her old music with her new, folky sound. That is the charm of Clairo: She recognized the strengths of her older songs and reimagined them to fit her evolving aesthetic.

Clairo augmented the jazz elements of “Amoeba” and further complicated the sound with the mechanical production of her mellotron. She faced the side of the stage for the jumpy song’s entirety, sparing one glance at the crowd which ushered a wave of screams. She did notice the audience mellowing during her most upbeat Sling track, and she called out the pit for not dancing. “Maybe this one’s more your cup of tea,” she teased as the notable chord progression of “Bags” filled the theater along with excited screams from the crowd. One of her most popular songs, the live version of “Bags,” carried an electric aura untapped on the recording, intensified by the crowd’s participation, the synths, and another spectacular saxophone outro.

The soft spoken singer ended the night with a peppy version of her intro to the Charm era, “Sexy to Someone,” and her viral hit, “Juna.” As the scintillating sounds of her final song played, Clairo introduced her band and saved Niswanger, whom she introduced as playing “on everything else” to uproarious cheers, for last. Phones flooded the pit as audience members vied for the perfect recording of the jubilant jingle and loudly sang along to “(You make me wanna) go dancing / (You make me wanna) try on feminine.” She leaned more into her subtle hip dips and wiggles that framed her performance for her farewell track, leaving the audience spellbound as she endearingly said goodbye with little finger scrunches.

In just over an hour, Clairo put a subdued spell on Moody Theater by playing Charm in its entirety, along with past hits. She omitted songs that were integral to her discography, such as “Pretty Girl,” “Bubblegum,” and “Sofia,” but she crafted her setlist well to reflect her roots while spotlighting her newest release. She sparingly interacted with her audience, but her reserved indie sound did not warrant much participation from the crowd. Her presence was enough to keep the crowd captivated, and she respected the concertgoers as much as they did her. As she mentioned at the beginning of her set, she was there to “play songs” for attendees, which she gracefully fulfilled. Clairo’s subtle allure in her stage presence and impressive vocals brought exactly the bewitching October welcome that Austin needed.