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Watch Sylvan Esso Bring Bass And Twists To NPR Music's SXSW Showcase

"We're gonna play a whole bunch of new songs for you," said Amelia Meath as she introduced her electro-pop duo Sylvan Esso, adding, "because we're tired of playing the old ones."

The phrase "we're gonna play new songs" often elicits groans from the crowd. But for Sylvan Esso — whose second album, What Now, comes out April 28 — the promise of new material was, three years after the release of their debut record, cause for elation for the huge audience packed into Stubb's BBQ in Austin, Texas, where Meath and producer Nick Sanborn played a set recorded live for NPR Music Wednesday night.

Though Sylvan Esso eventually trotted out a few highlights from 2014's self-titled debut — "Coffee," "H.S.K.T.," "Hey Mami" — the songs from What Now hit hard, stoking an as-far-as-the-eye-could-see field of ecstatic dancing to match the artful and passionate gyrations on stage. The effect captured and elicited what felt like genuine ecstasy; a loose and liberating letting-go that was an absolute blast to witness — even before Meath broke into a bit of Beyoncé's "Flawless."

Note: At the band's request, this video features three of Sylvan Esso's new songs. It is not the full performance:

Set List:

  • "Radio"
  • "Kick Jump Twist"
  • "Die Young"
  • Credits

    Producers: Robin Hilton, Mito Habe-Evans; Director: Colin Marshall; Technical Director: Josh Rogosin; Audio Engineer: Timothy Powell/Metro Mobile; Concert Videographers: Lizzie Chen, Mito Habe-Evans, Nickolai Hammar, Katie Hayes Luke, Kelly West; Editor: Annabel Edwards; Supervising Editor: Niki Walker; Executive Producer: Anya Grundmann; Photo: Adam Kissick for NPR; Special Thanks: SXSW, Stubb's BBQ

    Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

    Stephen Thompson is a writer, editor and reviewer for NPR Music, where he speaks into any microphone that will have him and appears as a frequent panelist on All Songs Considered. Since 2010, Thompson has been a fixture on the NPR roundtable podcast Pop Culture Happy Hour, which he created and developed with NPR correspondent Linda Holmes. In 2008, he and Bob Boilen created the NPR Music video series Tiny Desk Concerts, in which musicians perform at Boilen's desk. (To be more specific, Thompson had the idea, which took seconds, while Boilen created the series, which took years. Thompson will insist upon equal billing until the day he dies.)