We Went There: Malibu at the Cedar
Friday night at the Cedar Cultural Center in Minneapolis, as a looming blizzard hovered over our state, French electronic artist Malibu (nè Barbara Braccini) created a dark, warm space as the crowd readied for our second (third?) winter. Following her late 2025 minimalist LP Vanities, which showcased her ability to craft beautiful, heavy and bone-rattling drone music, I was excited to see her Drone Not Drone sponsored show at the Cedar.
Her stage setup was as stripped down and muscular as her music, with her table to electronics mostly cast in darkness, with a small flashing light (that we were warned could cause seizures) that was used sparingly and a spotlight that circled the room that remained me of a lighthouse light. The lights circled the room and pulsed throughout the set, cutting the otherwise dark room with jarring lights that spotlighted the crowd and room. The music over the nearly 60 minute set was a mixture of floating synths and haunted vocals that Braccini sang/spoke into the mix, with the sounds moving between sinus-rattling bass, twitchy drones and cloud like atmospheric, heavy waves of synth.
Her vocals sounded pristine and almost like they were sampled, but seemed to be coming live (it was hard to see in the dark). Her music, both on the debut LP and live, showed an artist who was confident in making the most of minimalism, crafting songs that aren’t afraid of their own shadow. It was a powerful set that wrapped around the listeners and showcased the power of drone and ambient music from an exciting new artist.
Opening the night was the duo ESP who sounded like a mix between Burial and Fuck Buttons. It was a great set of music that was soulful in a “choir at a funeral” sort of way, a mixture of minimalism and massive. Their sound was mostly smooth edges with the notable exception near the end of their set when they busted out a dance-y track that bubbled and grooved on slippery pads of synths before ending their set closer with an 80s synth homage.
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