Sounds from the north

Last weekend I returned to the Atwood Music Hall because Faroese music star Eivør had returned to Madison in support of her new album Tungl. Supporting her on tour was midori jaeger.

jaeger is a young lady from London who came armed with only her cello. Not a bow in sight, she plucked the strings to create melodies that were sometimes gentle, sometimes a bit more vigorous. It might have been during her intro to "dark green" when she noted that her mother was Japanese and her father American and that her childhood was spent in Japan as well as England. The song was about roots, planting them and uprooting them. Indeed, her recent EPs are called (Re)planted and (Un)planted.

I enjoyed her set. The songs usually had a steady beat and jaeger's lovely and, at times, ethereal voice was sensual and pleading. I should really check out her studio work. She seemed genuinely chuffed to be on stage before us and at the warm reception she was given.

It's a bit odd to me that Eivør has a devoted following here in Madison even if it's not a very large one.

Her blond hair in long pigtails and wearing a corset adorned with spikes, she came onstage to a rousing fanfare. Looking around, I think I saw a higher percentage of blonde women in the audience than at shows where the artist did not hail from near the Arctic Circle. The crowd was not all of a type but many of the guys down front looked a lot like the drummer - a bit burly and clad in black. To me, he looks like a guy from a biker gang in a Nordic noir TV show that turns out to have a heart of gold.

No doubt there were many folks there who just loved Eivør's dark synth pop but I also suspect that the Madison area's neo-pagans that follow a Norse path were out in full force that night.

Eivør and her band - a drummer and 2 keyboardists, one of them occasionally playing bass - play a darker toned music shaded by synths and adorned with her guitar that was usually adding a layer of fuzzy drone. There were a couple times where I was reminded of Nine Inch Nails but Eivør's music is generally less angry and feels more like she has a steely determination to make it through a long winter.

Her voice is incredible. Sometimes it is pulsing and trance-like while at others she really lets loose and sounds like she's calling down the ancestors.

The crowd got giddy with anticipation when they saw her pick up her Valkyrie drum.

Those songs had an added emphasis on rhythm that made the synths follow instead of the rhythm laying a foundation for the keys.

Just like her show last year, "Enn" was a highlight with the drummer pounding out a primal beat as throbbing synthesizer lines and washes of fuzzy guitar made it feel like they were ushering us across Bifröst. The tribal feel was mesmerizing.

Eivør and her bandmates put on another great show full of entrancing grooves and haunting melodies.

midori jaeger's set was captured in full and can be found up at Youtube. There are snippets of Eivør's performance there too.