Gothic Tropic have been poised for a breakthrough for far too long. But lead songwriter Cecilia Della Peruti seems unconcerned with the prospect, possessing a maturity in her unruly pop songs that reveals her growth as an artist. Peruti has joined Northern England post-punk revival veterans Maxïmo Park for two nights in California, starting with LA’s very own Teragram Ballroom, where her minty Stratocaster set forth a commanding weave of staccato lines that fall somewhere between lavish psych rock and clean, yet amped up notes à la Lindsey Buckingham.
Peruti applies her very own technique on her latest release Fast and Feast, and it does translate even better on a live setting, where she handles her chord patterns comfortably as her four band mates provide a more wholesome environment. Most of her set washed over like a calm wave, but once she closed the set with the soaring, solo-heavy Stronger, it truly felt like all bets were off. And then it shortly ended. But Peruti accomplished what many opening acts regularly fail to accomplish throughout her punchy, 35-minute set: to leave a mainly unbeknownst audience curious and wanting for more. Juan Rodríguez