Live Report: Lyra celebrates debut LP with dazzling Windmill Live display

Pop empress Lyra celebrated the release of her self-titled debut LP with a stunning performance at the Windmill QTR last night, marking another unforgettable Hot Press Presents:Windmill Live showcase in Dublin City Centre.

There was palpable sense of excitement in the air, as fans waited for the star of the night. First up – introduced by MC Stuart Clark – was opening act Saibh Skelly. While the young Dubliner began with a track titled ‘Superficial’, her performance was anything but. She may be proudly rooted in the busking tradition, but here she exhibited a striking kind of emotional maturity.

Her songs traverse the minefield of young relationships with a perspective that suggests she is wise beyond her years. Switching between highly produced and stripped back acoustic numbers, Skelly let the crowd warm up their vocal chords with her unique spin of Katy Perry’s ‘Teenage Dream’, before finishing her set with the pulsating ‘So What?’ – an ode to the joy of falling in love a little too fast.

Saibh Skelly at the Hot Press Windmill Live Series with Lyra. Copyright Miguel Ruiz.

After a short wait, the lights dimmed, and out she came. Dressed like a golden-clad Wonderwoman, with a matching microphone to boot, Lyra dove head-first into ‘Queen’. The captivating dance routine, vulnerable yet empowering lyrics and hypersonic energy firmly established the agenda for the evening.

After lapping up her well-earned applause, the singer introduced herself. There is a fascinating duality at work here. The Lyra during songs and the Lyra bantering with the crowd are two separate entities – a dichotomy she characterised as the “David Beckham effect.”

Her bubbly personality and charmingly distinctive Cork accent are infectious, especially when she’s recounting her endless trove of funny, self-deprecating anecdotes, sharing past struggles of juggling a litany of unreliable and monotonous jobs, from selling baby food to men’s razors, in order to fund her music career.

Then with the flick of a switch, she’s back into pop goddess mode.

Mammoth tracks ‘Always Be The One’ and ‘All Over Now’ are made for radio. Her vocal range is immense, she’s deep and defiant like Beyoncé one bar, and feathery as Kate Bush the next. Ultimately though, easy comparisons do her an injustice: Lyra has forged a voice and a persona that’s wholly her own.

Her defiant queen-like persona is balanced with a sense of emotional frailty. The ballad ‘Love Me’ recalls the singer’s desperate attempts to get her ex to love her – which extended to buying newspapers and studying the stock exchange in order to seem more intellectual.

After being, in her words, “dumped", Lyra revealed  the painful but empowering process of coming to the realisation that “the only thick thing about me is my thighs” – which raised a laugh and set up a nice transition into the steamier portion of her set.

At the Hot Press Windmill Live Series with Lyra. Copyright Miguel Ruiz.

‘Drink Me Up’ and ‘Queen’ displayed the empowerment and liberation provided from Lyra’s spicy margherita-fuelled sexcapades. The latter was particularly mesmerising, with its dramatic descending piano, and planetary synth waves, instrumentation that wouldn’t be out of place in a Christopher Nolan flick.

‘Naked’ kicked things up another gear. At this point, Lyra had onlookers trying their spirited best to imitate her well-rehearsed dance moves.

Before closing the set, she took a second to gracefully thank her audience. It took restraint for her – as well as some onlookers – to hold back the tears. Lyra has worked really hard to get to this point. Now, with the release of her debut album, you can how much it means to her – and how much she deserves whatever new level of success follows.

Egged on by an audience that was thoroughly engaged and on her side, she broke into her smash cover of the legendary Stevie Nicks’ ‘Edge of Seventeen’.

Lyra’s rendition, as she puts it, is gloriously “weird and wonderful” and pulsating with Eurodisco energy, each dance move perfectly synchronised with the transcendent strobe lighting.

It was a brilliant end to a marvellous evening. On this evidence – and that of her powerful debut album – Lyra has what it takes to go all the way. Stay tuned!