We got familiar with Alison Clancy through her Huff This! project, which made it in the list of our Best of NYC Emerging Artists Poll 2010. Electric Child is another project featuring this intriguing NYC based singer/songwriter/dancer – here’s a review of the song "Airshow".
It starts with an insistent beeping, the kind you would hear on a heart monitor or some other piece of annoying machinery. Then, with the static pop of a PA announcement, a pleasantly detached voice intones "good afternoon ladies and gentlemen. This is your pilot. The plane is about to crash. This is not a safety announcement. There is no plan for your survival." "Welcome to the air show" indeed. This slightly-electronic ethereal authority then tells us to sit back, relax and enjoy the crash. Cryptic predictions about rows 15-18 and row 25 make this reviewer think bandleader Alison Clancy is more than just the pilot of this flight, she’s the one pulling the strings of time and space. And it’s true. Clancy leads Electric Child on a disjointed journey; a touch of string guitar here, an electro-clash back beat there, a little bit emotional catharsis ("I can’t let go!"), and then an abrupt sign-off. This is her rollercoaster, and we’re all strapped in with blindfolds on, waiting for the next twist. – allison levin