Indie Pop is not Dead. Discover Allo Darlin'.

There she was, standing on  stage with her electric ukulele,ripped tights and high waist skirt singing the lyrics of an Allo Darlin’ song. Elizabeth Morris was the lovely lady that lead this London based Indie Pop band. They could not have been a more adorable foursome. Indie Pop have been criticized for trying to be ‘too alternative’, but Allo Darlin’ was one of those bands did not care what others think. They were not afraid to bring cute lyrics together with playful tones. Allo Darlin’ singed about life, dreams, love and many things that the listeners can relate to. The amazing thing about this band was the fact that they tried to bring excitement and life back into music. Tonight was one of the first time that I have ever seen them played, and it made Indie pop love songs become my favorites to listen to.
    As I stepped into the venue Cargo, I recognized that this was the place for all the young hipsters of London came to ‘chill’ ( To explain the definition of hipsters,they were the young trendy crowd of London that spend their time in the areas of Camden and Shordeitch riding their fixie bikes or philosophizing about life.) The venue had dim colored lighting and not meant to hold lots of people. It was an interesting atmosphere to be in, but all I could think of was finally seeing Allo Darlin’ live. As they stepped onto stage, the crowd cheer loudly. All the band mates came on stage casually and started getting their instruments ready. Elizabeth was very shy and adorably awkward as she got on stage. Her red hair was messy and barely contained in a bun on her head, and she rarely looked at the audience. She stood on stage and fumbled around with her electric ukulele.However as the lights dimmed and the smoke machine started to go off, the four group members fused their instruments together beautifully. Elizabeth’s voice sounded amazing just like her recordings. She was a little quiet at first, but she gained confidence fast and began enjoying herself on stage. She had an enormous amount of energy whipping her hair around on stage and doing cute little dances. It reminded me of a young girl that was in front of her mirror dancing to her favorite song. Her band mates were also enjoying themselves playing along and watching Elizabeth pranced around. The band played most of my favorite songs, but one song stuck out to me. It was an acoustic song called “Tallulah”, and the way Elizabeth sang it was really moving. She had strong vocals, and it made the listeners emotional listening to the lyrics. There was something about how connected she was to her instrument and the audiences that sent chills down my spine. I couldn’t believe that the band could be this fantastic live. They performed very well on stage, and they engaged with the audience throughout the whole performance. You could feel the chemistry between the band mates, and they were enjoying themselves. Allo Darlin’ stole my heart that night.   
(Ngoc Nguyen-Truong : UC Davis)