Show Review: Skorts, Miss Grit, Caitlin Starr at The Sultan Room, NYC.
December 19th, 2025.
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“The deeper into Bushwick you go, the more likely that is” -Anonymous
December 20th, 2025
The Sultan Room is a space ship. A half circle double-elevated chamber with a fractured stained glass style light wall on the back of the stage, split into the shapes of triangles whose tips all converge into a center point. It’s like a psychedelic interpretation of the warped visual distortion when travelling at light speed. There’s even shapes of stars in the stained glass. As rodents we felt like star garbage as we got blown away by Skorts, Miss Grit, and Caitlin Starr. It was Skort’s album release show for their debut LP Incompletement, capping off a triumphant 2025 for the group. The ship was packed full for the occasion, here’s what we remember:
Caitlin Starr blended loud punchy riffs with gentle airy melodies, like weaving a thread of silk back and forth between coarse grit sandpaper. The lights, in midday blue, matched the mood of the moment. Everything appeared in shades of black and blue, like a deep day old bruise from an unsuspecting tumble. The songs evoked a sense of bruising, from both sides, some as the giver in heavier moments and some as the receiver in breathier ones. “I hope you’re happy and find someone else”, their lead sang on a song whose title we couldn’t track down.
We had heard of Miss Grit but had never seen them perform so we were surprised to see them presented as a solo act. There was nothing solo about the performance, though. A backing track with heart racing club rhythms beat under pads of strings while Miss Grit wielded a cream colored Fender Jaguar. They projected a live video feed of themselves onto the back wall and ceiling, multiple copies in inverted black and white. Vocals were also duplicated, layered, and vocoded. This layering of both sight and sound amplified what would have been a solo act into a multiverse-of-self type of performance.
A Skorts show is the musical equivalent of cranking a photo's saturation up to 100. In satisfying form, they opened the set with their first ever release, 2023’s Cyclops Girlfriend, as if to declare where they started in order to show how far they’ve come. You could hear the crowd singing along to every number. Their lead would hold a vocal note to extended applause, suspending the moment briefly in time. They were in their element. Caitlin Starr crowd surfed. It smelled like chamomile and honey. Off the heels of their debut album Incompletement and a European tour, they held nothing back to finish off the year. And they encored with a brand new song, so here’s to 2026.
Afterwards the party continued at Alphaville. Then we ended up at Birdy’s. The rest is a blur. We woke up between some garbage bins, tail soaking wet with booze. Such is a rat's life. But we still have our CD copy of Skort’s Incompletement, with plans to crawl our way into a car and turn it up later this weekend. If you missed Skorts, Miss Grit, and Caitlin Starr, connect with them on socials and better luck next year. See you around, Rrrat Pack.
| Keywords: | New York City | Skorts | Miss Grit | Caitlin Starr | The Sultan Room |
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