The masks light up now. That was the hard news from Wednesday's sold-out New York debut of Angine de Poitrine at Le Poisson Rouge, a 700-capacity basement venue in Greenwich Village whose French name suits the band's home province of Quebec.

The experimental duo went viral in corners of the internet earlier this year, thanks in part to their microtonal, odd-metered take on hard-driving rock — and in part to their ostentatious costumes. Those costumes include black and white polka dot tunics and jumpsuits topped with oversized papier-mâché faces, exaggerated features, golden glittery eyes and signature pyramid accoutrements. The new versions keep all of those elements and add one feature: the ability to light up in bright yellow at key moments.

A small detail, to be sure. But the weeknight crowd appeared to revel in it, along with everything else the band brought to a room renowned for its sound system and its commitment to adventurous programming.

Wednesday was the first of two Angine de Poitrine shows at Le Poisson Rouge. Both sold out many months ago, ever since a video of the duo performing in a French studio appeared on KEXP's YouTube channel and went viral. At time of writing, the video is closing in on 20 million views — a remarkable tally, the reviewer notes, given that the music, by mass-appeal standards, is "so magnificently odd."

The review, published by the Guardian on 10 September 2026, describes the live show as a must-see spectacle powered by glorious noise and wild flair, calling the duo a "brilliantly strange" experimental band delivering mind-boggling math rock mastery.

The New York debut caps a rapid ascent driven almost entirely by online momentum: one studio session, nearly 20 million views, and two sold-out nights in one of New York's most musically adventurous rooms. Whether the light-up masks signal a broader theatrical evolution for the duo remains to be seen on the second night.