Words by: Andres Reyes
Photos by: Seher Sikandar

On Thursday November 4th 2009, Little Dragon played The Independent in San Francisco. There was already a line by the time doors opened and the place began to fill in rather quickly. The opening band Nite Jewel held most of the audience’s attention just enough to appease them while they waited a little more—everyone was there to see a Little Dragon.

Since their breakthrough 7” Twice/Test in 2007, the Swedish group of high school friends has been steadily gathering steam and congealing into possibly one of the more creative pop groups in years. Their self-titled first album enjoyed a rare genuine word-of-mouth buzz and by the time they released Machine Dreams in August of this year the trite phrase, ‘highly anticipated’ was actually appropriate. Their new sound took a more minimal and electronic form than their first project; as a result their stage show had also undergone significant changes.

Once the band started filing onto the stage of The Independent, the audience let it be known they were more than ready. Frontwoman Yukimi Nagano appeared wearing what looked like a more attractive version of the uniform General Zod and the rest of the Kryptonian villains from Superman II wore. The group have spent a good part of the past two years performing, subsequently everyone seemed very comfortable onstage, especially Yukimi who threw herself into her performance with great dedication. Though most of their set was the minimalist and electronic music from their second album, live it took on a new meaning and at times sounded downright cinematic. From spontaneous in-the-crowd dance party moments to instances where Yukimi resembled a possessed pixie with a tambourine, the experience seemed to captivate everyone in attendance. Damn good show.