From nice to perfection
For the second day I only had bands planned that I already knew and love. But almost none of them I had seen live. So who could live up to their records?
Iceland Airwaves Day 2
Borko – 15:00 HRESSÓ
We begin with Borko. An artist I learned a few years back. He has been working for quite some time on his second album. And he was so nice to play a few of those new songs at Airwaves. He started with “Continental Love”, my favorite song of him. I was sold. The energy was build up nicely and it blow into a nice climax. But the songs after that didn’t have the same intensity and slowly he was losing my attention. Still, it was a good concert but with such a big start my expectation had grown to high.
Pascal Pinon – 16:50 HRESSÓ
Normally Sóley would come up next but she kept her drummer and us waiting. They broke up Sóley’s set-up so Pascal Pinon could get started with their show a little earlier then planned. The first time I heard these girls, on record, I was immediately sold. I have been addicted to their album for some time. I was really interested to see how this would turn out live. From the first second till the last I really enjoyed it. I had expected it to be harder to keep the atmosphere from the record alive during a concert but they didn’t have any problem with this. They have been working on soon-to-be-released music and I guess they will suffice to answer my hunger for more, for some time. If you like the song below, do check the rest of their previous album!
Sóley– 17:20 HRESSÓ
Yes, I did see Sóley again. What can I say, she’s good. Right after Pascal Pinon finished their show she arrived at the venue. And when all gear was put in please and soundchecked, which all went very fast, they started. Although she seemed agitated from being late and having to hurry to still be able to play, she dove write into her music. Again it was nice from beginning to end. The songs of today were all played the evening before. Not that I minded this, far from it. I adore her work. And still haven’t had enough of this.
Afterwards she told us why she was late: she was at work and totally had forgotten she had to play Airwaves today :).
Kira Kira – 19:00 Fríkirkjan
Kira Kira welcomed us in the Fríkirkjan that day. A beautiful church which will be the perfect setting for tonights music. Kira Kira brought not the music I was expecting. She used to make sweet electronic music. But she has been recording a new album, which is currently being mastered. And this time she chose for a more ambient dark sound. Not that I minded, only my brain needed some time to switch. To reference to something, it made me think of the early days of Silver Mt. Zion and the intermediates you can here in Godspeed You! Black Emperors music. The songs went from nice to brilliant and I ended up with hunger for more. We will have to wait for the new album to be released. As such the song below is from a more electronic period. Enjoy.
Dustin O’Halloran – 19:50 FRÍKIRKJAN
Next stop Dustin O’Halloran. Recently he has been busy (together with together Adam Wiltzie from Stars of the Lid and Sleepingdog) on A Winged Victory For The Sullen. A beautiful masterpiece and I didn’t expect anything less tonight. The big piano was tucked away at the side of church. So we couldn’t see Dustin very good. He was joined by a string quartet. From the first note to the last carried us on a cloud. I know his music on record and really love it. But I didn’t knew how astonishing his music was live. And this was only the beginning of this neo-classical night. When he touched the first notes of “We Move Lightly” we must have seen a glimpse of heaven. I have no other explanation.
We Move Lightly from Dustin O’Halloran
Hauschka – 20:50 FRÍKIRKJAN
For those who are not familiar with Hauschka, in short: he uses the principle of prepared piano and builds on what electronic musicians do with their music. This way he has his own typical sound. And every time he works on some new music he seems to have found another sound he could pull out of his piano. Live he is assisted by a percussionist which was also quite krafted at getting his regular instruments to produce rare sounds. Both artists were playing so brilliantly together. Sometimes I didn’t know who was making what sound. I was already a fan of his work … now even more. The first track I ever heard from him was “La Dilettante”, check it out below.
Jóhann Jóhannsson – 21:50 FRÍKIRKJAN
And now it was time for the master of neo-classical music. You could feel that the whole church was expecting big things. Jóhann had also brought a string quartet but behind them you could see that they were expecting more musicians. Again from the beginning to the end we were served pure beauty. Anyone who has ever seen a concert from Jóhann before knows what I’m talking about. I lost the count on how many times I’ve seen him but tonight definitely was the best experience I so far had with his music. If you took a look around you would see all these faces who just offered their emotions to this one man. And right they were. For the final part of the concert they were joined by a seven headed brass section. If Dustin O’Halloran let us saw a glimpse of heaven then Jóhann brought us back and showed you the light. Next time someone tells me not to go to the light I will be thinking twice :). A perfect evening.
