Review: Sky Ferreira makes a joyful return to the stage and offers an alternative kind of pop career

LOS ANGELES (AP) — For two nights recently at Los Angeles' Vermont Hollywood, the enigmatic pop star Sky Ferreira emerged on stage like no time had passed — in jet black sunglasses and an oversized black pleather coat, in full “Matrix”-fashion — barreling through the songs from her 2013 cult-classic LP “Night Time, My Time.” Her voice is richer, fuller now that it was then, serving to deepen her unique brand of gothic pop. The room was full of loyalist fans who remembered every word — a miraculous feat for a record now a decade old, but understandable for this audience.

For years, rumors of an oft-delayed sophomore album titled “Masochism” left Ferreira fans with hope and frustration in equal parts: When she promised new music, few songs were released. She'd perform live infrequently, like at the Spanish festival Primavera last year. That she was here, on stage in Los Angeles for two nights, was a rarity.

In 2019, the music website Pitchfork published a cover story titled “Sky Ferreira Returns” in anticipation of her next album, one that has yet to arrive nearly half-a-decade later. That same year, she was featured on the Charli XCX track “Cross You Out” and the Beck song “Die Waiting,” but for years only released one original track of her own — the ominous, string-laden five-and-a-half-minute dirge “Downhill Lullaby,” produced by “Twin Peaks” supervisor Dean Hurley. (Ferreira had a minor role in the 2017 “Twin Peaks” season.) The wait continued.

Then, last year, she released another new track: “Don't Forget,” angsty synth-pop that feels like a long lost “Night Time, My Time” cut: “Keep it in mind,” she sings, “Nobody here's a friend of mine.”

At the Vermont Hollywood, both nights began with “Boys”, Ferreira's sole album’s opener and an electric Tumblr-era pop song that kicks off without an extended introduction — the crowd had been waiting to see her sing long enough. The song was given necessary edge by her too-cool-for-school performance style; it's her subtle sways that recall Blondie's Debbie Harry, more so than her shock of bleached blond hair. Ferreira performed the majority of her album, interrupted only for a few classic cuts like the electro punky-pop “Lost in My Bedroom” from her "Ghost" EP.

At the end, there would be no encore.

There were few songs in her short discography that she opted not to perform, and she ended with “Everything Is Embarrassing,” her biggest hit to date, the song she has said on more than a few occasions was released without her label's consent. It felt like a reclamation, and a celebration, of her pop star past and autonomous future.

If it takes another 10 years for a new album, so be it: the Ferreira fans will continue to wait patiently, and until their popstar is ready.