BABII + EONE + FLORALIS – GREEN DOOR STORE, BRIGHTON 20.2.25
Over the past few years we have keenly watched and followed the musical journey of the rather wonderful Daisy Emily Warne aka BABii, (pronounced ‘Bah-bi’) who used to reside here in Brighton. It seems like every time we see her live show, there’s something new to keep our attention. Whether it be her electronic tinged Pop which was conveyed with the use of red Simmons electronic drums; or whether it’s the addition of small lazer lights shooting off of silver foil placed amongst her electronic synth units whilst dipping into industrial sounds, whilst perched atop a table on stage.
We have enjoyed all of our previous encounters, which include a Republic Of Music: The Shipwright Yard Sessions at the Shipwright’s Yard on 10th May 2019; a support slot for !!! (CHK CHK CHK) at Concorde 2 on 1st December 2019; a headlining show exactly two years to the day later at The Prince Albert on 1st December 2021; an appearance at ‘Ruinfest’ at The Hope & Ruin on 4th September 2022 or a set for ‘No Friends In The Industry’ Unofficial Escape at the Fiddler’s Elbow on 13th May 2023. During this period BABii has radically changed the way she writes her captivating, boundary-pushing songs. She has dropped several singles, miscellaneous tracks (often in collaboration with others) and a handful of albums. The latest of which being ‘Daredevil 2000’ which dropped on 11th October last year, is a continuation of the writing style she began with 2022 collaborative mixtape Screamer, which saw the producer and vocalist writing from the perspective of her younger sister and their struggle with BPD (Borderline Personality Disorder).
On ‘Daredevil 2000’ BABii was taking an abstract look at the idea of evil and projecting it into her own imagined idea of hell. Through this creative exercise, BABii asks challenging questions about what pushes people to transgress while also exploring her personal relationships with those who society deems unwanted or unacceptable. Across the album, BABii enters something akin to Dante’s Inferno, exploring the origins of violence and criminality and how hell relates to the real world. Each song corresponds to a separate sin and comes with a villainous criminal attached. These include hooligans, gargoyles, goblins, and a Trash Spirit Clown named Tito Von Bricabrac. All exist in the fantastical Nevaworld, a futuristic hellscape that the album exists in. Hell, BABii reasons, is not somewhere you come from but somewhere you end up.
If BABii found herself accidentally writing about her father in the early stages of ‘Daredevil 2000’, things became more explicit when he sadly passed away mid-way through the making of the album. She struggled with writer’s block for the first time and found the words impossible to come by. “My dad is one of the reasons I make music and I just thought, “Why am I doing this?” she says, looking back. Friends advised her to take a step back and wait. BABii was seeking to understand those around her and after a while she gathered producers Warpstr, Samuel Organ, Mun Sing, Iglooghost, and Pholo at Prah Studios in Margate, Kent and began working her way out of her grief. The result is an album that humanizes the people behind these mistakes and errors and asks for greater understanding. It’s a radical step forwards in not only mentality but in sound! BABii’s musical direction has changed! As a result of this we noted this evening at the Green Door Store on the closing date of her UK tour – having already conquered in Bristol, Leeds, Sheffield, Glasgow and Edinburgh – that BABii had acquired a whole new load of fans, and those were different in appearance from previous concerts – Things are changing for BABii….
Things are changing indeed! As BABii takes to the stage at 9:31pm for a 55 minute trip into an escapist world, she immediately discloses the massive life changing event (of the title of this review) in that she is going to have a micro-BABii ie she is pregnant by four and a half months and she then draped some yellow “caution” tape across her belly, and explained to us to be careful! No doubt BABii would be joining us for a dance then! Well if that doesn’t set the mood to over-excitement, then I certainly don’t know what else does!
There was no setlist to spy this evening as the tunes are all contained in the hard-drive I guess, so I’m totally unsure of any of the 19 track names I’m afraid. The first tune reminded me of a possible amalgam of Shanks & Bigfoot’s ‘Sweet Like Chocolate’ and Sweet Female Attitude’s ‘Flowers’. This was followed by a tune with a booming bass and a sweetly delivered rap mid-tune. The third number had a skippy bouncing beat and the earworms lyrics were “too far too far”. Selection four musically reminded me of Taiwanese rapper Pan Wei Ju who is known professionally as 潘PAN and formerly Aristophanes. The mainly youngish crowd certainly bounced along to this one!
The house lights were almost totally extinguished and BABii called on her small but powerful trusty torch and she shone this onto her face to great atmospheric effect and then she swang it around as the “daredevil take hold” lyrics blasted out for this almost menacing tune. There are silky sweet vocals delivered on the next composition which has a slower beat and contains the lyrics “push it too far”. Track seven also sounded like the music of Pan Wei Ju and contained the lyrics “was it really worth it”. There was a sweet intro on the next song and then the bouncy beats seriously kicked in and this was the most dance-friend number thus far. The lyrics included “I wanna see the nightmare” and the outro was quiet again and this section reminded me of Grimes. The next track was quite possibly BABii’s rendition of ‘Keyhole’ by Cyst. It’s similar to something like Run DMC mixed with BABii’s sweet vocals.
The beat was ramped up to at least 9.5 on the following track. I must say that my colleague was astonishingly impressed with this song, which included the lyrics “Let me fight and hold me back…hold my hand”. After this, BABii came and joined the crowd for a dance for the next skippy beated drum and bass tune, with the lyrics “You’re not my champion”. BABii stayed with us punters and more bouncy dancing ensued for a track that included the lyrics “Is this what you want or is this obsession”. After this BABii said that her favourite song is from an Apple advert and then immediately said that she had no idea why she said this! She was now back on the stage for a slowish one with the lyrics “I’m gonna take you for a joyride”. Another slow chugger followed and the vocals here reminded me of Grimes. The lyrics included “you can’t tell me that it’s alright”.
With the deepest bass sound of the whole evening going down for the next selection, BABii’s sound had turned evil. It included the line “You’re not wanted here”. After this, BABii was back into the crowd for the fastest bangin’ beat yet! And I’m totally loving it! The lyrics included “I’m not making promises” and “I’ll not get away with it” and mid-tune we had to all seriously crouch down on the floor and then all jump up again and then joyfully bounce along to the tune. Another bangin’ tune followed and BABii is still dancing with us! The atmosphere is wonderfully happy and this song was as great as the previous composition. This one included the line “Did I hurt you”. Another corker followed and BABii stayed with us. This track had a quiet intro and the lyrics “I think about you all the time now” and then the drum and bass beat seriously kicked in. BABii remained in the crowd for the final track and it was another banger with a skippy beat and the lyrics “All I want…Gimme gimme what you got”. As they say tuuuuuune. BABii then simply said “thanks!” and it was all over!
BABii:
Daisy Emily Warne – vocals, programming
Support this evening came from EONE and Floralis. And so kicking off the night, the duties fell to Floralis who is a trans artist/producer who incorporates elements of hip hop, post punk and reggaeton into her bizarre blend of gothic art pop. Drawing from the influences of artists such as Bjork, The Cure, Vince Staples, and her Trinidadian heritage, Floralis’s music captures the raw punk energy she has gained from her years of fronting hardcore bands with an electronic blend. She regularly covers subjects such as the cruel abuse committed by the Home Office, colonialism, and transphobia, with anarchist politics to match.
This evening we were rewarded with a 28 minute 8 song set that ran from 8:01pm to 8:29pm. It’s our debut encounter with this artist and we are keen to see what she has to offer! Floralis takes to the stage and sets the Pioneer DJ mixer and laptop on the go and mainly concentrates on the live vocals throughout the energetic performance. Immediately she jumps off of the stage and gets up close and personal with the mainly young punters that are in the house! The opener, ‘Paper Room’ is from her 2023 ‘My Name Is Floralis’ album and it benefits from a booming bass. The rear stage backdrop has a continual mashup of films and hard-hitting messages that are close to Floralis’ heart and they say it as it is and the aim is to make people aware of the selected subjects. For example, for song two, the as yet to be released ‘1962 (The Coloured Invasion)’, we are informed that this was penned about the treatment of the British Empire and how they treated refugees. It bops along nicely and has several vocal samples that are in a similar vein to Paul Hardcastle’s classic ‘19’.
Floralis’ vocals are eagerly delivered with true conviction throughout the whole set, and maybe none so much as on ‘Hotel Industrial Complex’ which we are told was written about the sugarcane industry being taken over by rich hotel groups in Trinidad, where one of her parents originates. This track has a fast rap style delivery with a decent dance beat atop and for me is the best track thus far. It’s refreshing to witness an artist with true convictions and something serious to say, whilst getting it across to eager punters who lap up the messages whilst dancing away and having a good fun time.
It’s the turn of her 2024 ‘I Might Tell Your Mates’ single next and the subject matter of this one is a Nazi bar when she resides in Horley. For this Floralis produces a blow up doll that is meant to represent a Nazi and she invited the crowd to give it a good kicking as they merrily danced away to the tune, which had a slight Indian vibe going on. The doll was given a good kicking and amazingly survived the set. We are then informed that the next composition is going to be released as a single (probably in April) and that it’s called ‘Black Combat Boots’. This is the most bangin’ tune so far and it could easily have been performed by Lynks.
Floralis had a running theme joke about all of her songs having been written by Robbie Williams! Of course they weren’t but the next selection was ‘She’s The One’ which Robbie had a hit with back in 1999, and yet he hadn’t written that either. For the record it was written and produced by Karl Wallinger for World Party’s fourth studio album, ‘Egyptology’ which came out two years earlier in 1997. To be honest, I thought that this was the weakest selection from the set, but having said this, it does highlight the quality of Floralis’ material. The penultimate selection was a new unreleased composition called ‘You’re Not Dead’ and this we are told is to highlight the worrying trend of trans women being forced into prostitution in order to survive.
The enjoyable set draws to a close with the arrival of ‘Prickles’ which is found on 2023’s ‘My Name Is Floralis’ album. I can honestly imagine Marc Almond/Soft Cell or Pet Shop Boys performing a cover of this track. Floralis had come and conquered and the punters absolutely loved her as indeed did we. Hopefully we will catch her again live in the not too distant future.
Check out the Floralis album HERE.
Floralis:
Floralis – vocals, laptop, Pioneer DJ mixer
Floralis setlist:
‘Paper Room’ (from 2023 ‘My Name Is Floralis’ album)
‘1962 (The Coloured Invasion)’ (unreleased)
‘Hotel Industrial Complex’ (unreleased)
‘I Might Tell Your Mates’ (a 2024 single)
‘Black Combat Boots’ (unreleased)
‘She’s the One’ (Robbie Williams Cover)
‘You’re Not Dead’ (unreleased)
‘Prickles’ (from 2023 ‘My Name Is Floralis’ album)
Next up it was the turn of EONE to entertain the punters! EONE is a Brighton based producer, DJ and music lecturer working in London’s Point Blank Music School and Pirate Studios. With the ability to enhance any bass-heavy music style with his unique sound, EONE’s selection marks him as a sonic surgeon that can cut up any dancefloor. Right off the bat from his Los Angeles debut for Tears in the Club, he has been securing prime-time DJ slots, first playing at Brussels and Prague shortly after. Last year he headlined his first show in Budapest and this year played at Shell Tek, Two Shells seminal weekly event. He also dropped an EP featuring legendary grime MC, Trim. This year he released a collaborative EP with førget on Plastician’s label, Terrorhythm. His single ‘Rippled’ from his new album also received airtime on BBC 6 Music on Tom Ravencroft’s show, as well as being Saint Ludo’s track of the week.
EONE took to the stage and was strangely wearing a scarf under his cap and he headed towards the twin Pioneer DJ decks and busied himself by dropping some deep cuts of his own material interspersed with tracks by other artists. It’s fair to say that the tunes caused a fair bit of body swaying and head bobbing and got punters in the mood for the forthcoming BABii set.
Check out EONE on Bandcamp HERE.
Well done to Love Thy Neighbour Love Thy Neighbour promoters and the Green Door Store for another enjoyable night out.
