Photo by JOSH PELTA-HELLER
Never to be pigeonholed, Swedish genre-benders Little Dragon delivered a face-melting set of dancehall R&B synth-pop disco-tronica at Underground Arts on Friday. You wouldn’t have known it if your cell phone was vibrating that night, not through Frederik Wallin’s pants-rockin’ bass-guitar grooves, anchoring singer Yukimi Nagano’s smoky, sultry vocals. There was no stage-banter to speak of, not much acknowledgement of the proverbial “fourth wall.” Shrouded in mystery — or at least what looked like potentially really warm head-to-toe stage costumes — the singer managed to make sure she reached out to connect in her own way, with just barely enough space around her on the tiny basement club stage to lead the charge to get physical for about two hours, and all amps set to eleven. — JOSH PELTA-HELLER