Sloppy Jane is anything but sloppy. A rock ensemble based in Brooklyn, the band’s theatrics are meticulously crafted and overly eccentric.
I was lucky to catch their Feb. 18 opening set for Deap Vally at the Crystal Ballroom in Somerville. While Deap Vally’s unremarkable set consisted of repeated guitar hooks and lacked personality, every song on Sloppy Jane’s setlist presented as its own distinct production. Haley Dahl, the vocalist, songwriter and composer for Sloppy Jane, no doubt electrified the crowd of Boston’s middle-aged alternative community (it’s as small as you would imagine it to be).
In the process of writing this review, I realized that it’s much harder to label what exactly Sloppy Jane is than what the band isn’t. Sloppy Jane isn’t fully Riot Grrrl, although their recent supporting gigs with bands like Pussy Riot and Deap Vally could give that impression. They’re also not your typical low-budget garage rock band; Sloppy Jane’s second full-length album, “Madison”, was entirely recorded in a cave in West Virginia (unfortunately, the cave didn’t join the band on tour). They’ve been labeled as art punk, chamber pop, experimental rock and with a bunch of other ambiguous sub-genres. Oh, and throw a classical orchestra into the mix.
Dahl began the night conducting “Overture” in her signature blue velvet suit. An overture is a piece of music played by an orchestra at the beginning of an opera or play, which fit the ensuing hour-long concert quite nicely. Dahl played a musical version of the game Red Light, Green Light with her band during the piece, squatting down to force the band to stop and then jumping back up to resume the music.
She put down the conductor’s baton to sing “Party Anthem,” my personal favorite song from Sloppy Jane’s discography. Deceitfully titled, the song explores feelings of inadequacy and isolation in a style reminiscent of a Kate Bush ballad.
Another highlight was “Judy’s Bedroom,” a sweet-sounding song about murder. As if around a campfire, Dahl sang, “Judy, does whatever she pleases / ‘Cause she’s with Jesus now.” At one point, she dipped to the side of the stage to put blue paint on her face like tears. A chorus of “la-la-la-la” repeated throughout the song, creating an eerie energy around the stage.
The obvious fan favorite was “Where’s My Wife.” In the song, Dahl screams the title over and over again, each time with a different emotion — first violently, then confusedly and finally in tears. By the time she jumped into the crowd, most people had picked up on the repeating chorus and shouted along into the microphone as Dahl moshed near them. The venue’s energy definitely peaked during this song in comparison to the rest of the night.
Before playing the final song, Dahl led the audience in a New Year’s Eve countdown. Even though we were about two months past the holiday, she explained that a fresh start was already needed. “Who else feels like they’ve already f*cked up this year,” she yelled, only to be met with resounding cheering. When a woman interrupted her monologue to yell about a Chinese New Year festival that had just happened, Dahl deadpanned, “No more interruptions.” If it wasn’t clear already, Haley Dahl was in charge of the evening’s program for as long as she was on stage.
Leaving the venue that night, I realized that ascribing a genre label to Sloppy Jane was a lost cause. In reality, their music is constantly evolving and weaving between genres. However, one thing the entire setlist had in common was an affinity to live performance. Haley Dahl’s theatrical charm jumps out when she’s on stage in a way unattainable to fans through streaming platforms. As evidenced by the merch line following Sloppy Jane’s set, Boston’s alternative fans seemed to agree with me.
