Review: a campy Christmas Eve story as told by girlish figure's Please Her For Pleasure

On occasion, I get pinged by bands that are new to me, giving me a heads up about an upcoming gig. This happened recently when girlish figure (moniker for Analise Nelson) sent me an Instagram IM mentioning that they were having a video release party for "Please Her For Pleasure" at The Goldfish. I was given a synopsis of the music video, "a heavily 80s inspired pop jam with a video that will tell a dark, but campy story about queer love and transformation. We follow a Nun (girlish figure) whose Christmas Eve mass gets turned upside down when a mysterious woman (Catherine McCafferty) inspires them to leave the church and the habit behind. They’re sneered at by the sexually repressed priest (Sam Pancake) and chased down by Animal Control, but what their attackers don’t know is that the gay club they’ve fled to is frequented by gay werewolves...and tonight is a full moon."

girlish figure at The Goldfish

I've been spending the last couple months catching as many of the potential 2026 Oscars Nominations for Best Picture as possible. I'm selecting movies based on Gold Derby I've seen: Bugonia, Frankenstein, Hamnet, It Was Just an Accident, Sentimental Value, Sinners, and Wicked: For Good. Personally, I only think Frankenstein, It Was Just an Accident, and Sinners are worthy of a nomination. I'd toss in F1: The Movie (even though it is a rip-off of the Creed movies, but for F1 racing). Why am I mentioning all this, well, because it was time to see something campy. When you see so many critically acclaimed movies, you've got to toss in something different even if it is just a 4 minute music video. 

girlish figure at The Goldfish

The video premiere occurred at the end of the set, but I didn't need to wait until the end to satisfy that need for the campy. The whole set had a bit of a campy theatrical production. There was an opening number of "O Holy Night" where Joseph and Mary were making their way to Bethlehem. Now Joseph was wanting some attention from the audience, I suppose, because history doesn't give him all that much attention. Mary kept tugging at him, because maybe she was about to give birth, but he was very upset at her for pulling at his arm. 

When girlish figure came up to the stage, the Christmas story flashed 3 decades into the future. There was a moment where they went for a bottle of water, but decided against it and went off stage where a glass of wine was handed to them. The water into wine moment. There was also some symbolism of 3 years further into the future as a crown of thorns was worn. 

girlish figure at The Goldfish

There were some interesting backstories to a couple of the songs. "Delaware Girl" is a song that won't end up on Grey's Anatomy. A TV series that I'm assuming Nelson watches religiously.  Interestingly, I've never seen a single episode during its 22 year run. The song is about, "if David Bowie got resurrected by Aubrey Plaza, but the song is mostly about her being from Delaware." Interestingly again, I just saw Season 2 of The White Lotus, which includes Aubrey Plaza as part of the cast. The song has a dash of the ghoulish.

A few jokes were tossed around by the band. Such as back in the distant past, two individuals were walking around and came across a red vegetable. One decided to take a bite and said that it tasted rad. The other individual then took a bite and was not as convinced and so you have name radish. 

"About That Night" is a song "for people who have cried and masturbated at the same time." It has a late 80s / early 90s synth rock touch. The saxophone driven "Burbank Cowboy" is about a "woman on a horse who may or may not be a time traveler and / or from outer space. And it all takes place in the equestrian neighborhood of Burbank." The night ended with a cover of Robert Palmer's signature song "Addicted to Love."  

girlish figure at The Goldfish

There does need to be a clarification to the first paragraph of this review. I gave the impression that girlish figure is a new band to me. That is true, but Analise Nelson is not new to me. As is somewhat normal, I did some research while writing up this blog post. Here's a portion of their Spotify bio, "Girlish, the moniker for lead singer/producer, Analise Nelson, is the second musical endeavor from Nelson, whose previous project, Anabot was featured in LA Weekly, Magnet Magazine . . . " I did a word search in my blog for "Anabot" and came up with this little flash back gem that you can read here.

As for "Please Her For Pleasure" video release that has small touches here and there that remind you of the Robert Palmer music video, it was well received with the sexy teasing lyrics:

She don’t touch me, but I can feel her
She don’t touch me, but I revere her
I’ve got to please her, please her for pleasure

Setlist: O Holy Night (Intro), Sweet Transvestite, I Found Someone That I Hate, Messup Your Makeup, Asshole, Delaware Girl, About That Night . . . , Fun But Not Forever, Burbank Cowboy, Addicted to Love (Robert Palmer cover).