By Jase Walker
Alright to preface this, I am absolutely knackered. I’ve covered quite a bit of distance this weekend but I’m a glutton for punishment and I wasn’t going to miss Myrkur doing a show in the next town over so here I am and ready to get my face blasted. Somehow I’ve missed Myrkur several times over the past few years, with a few appearances either in Manchester or ArcTanGent, but not this time! She’s playing Tivoli Vredenburg’s high up stage of Pandora but interestingly has absolutely flat out sold this venue out so the balcony is open – so don’t mind if I do! Anyway, it’s Myrkur with Jonathan Hultén in support and the stage appears to be extremely verdant, with various flora dotted around the stage.
Jonathan having easily one of the most bizarre stage entrances I think I’ve ever seen, either they snuck on stage in their flowing black garments without me even noticing them, or they’d been there for a significant length of time already. Either way that’s weirded me out a bit, I can’t really make out much detail of them due to the lighting and large headdress/veil they appear to be wearing too.
Starting out with a folk a capella… sermon(?) mixed with organs and the like is an interesting start, with the acoustic guitar out it picks up the pace. I figured this would be a bit of an unusual show but I’m actually a bit baffled by this start, quite enjoying it though! The sort of unusual discordant chorus on the vocals suits the vaguely American western folk style of acoustic playing. A fantastical, hauntingly sombre show this, it’s very “acoustic songs by the campfire” in many ways but ever so slightly unusual in that each song feels like a folklore story as well.
This genuinely a fascinating show, in-between the solo vocal songs with some heavy chorus effects and the dreamy acoustic songs and nature background noises (Birds, wind, etc), there really is a brilliant beauty in the music that Jonathan is playing tonight. It’s also worth noting that this is just them, on their own, no-one else on the stage, which in and of itself is a remarkably tough thing to do when generally you’re in a pretty fair minority of live acts (music wise anyway). Some of the acoustic songs feel to me that they wouldn’t sound too out of place in a spaghetti western film, the usage of whistling really solidifies it. I’ve been absolutely transfixed on this show, generally a fairly soft and atmospheric show but incredibly engrossing.
And so to our main attraction – Myrkur, opting for a quiet walk on to some light applause, no intro track, just tense silence. An extended droney start before Myrkur herself appears amongst the shadows on stage backed by almost blinding purple lighting. Myrkur’s voice soars and fills the room against an atonal drone, what an incredible atmosphere right from the start.
Surrounded by the earlier mentioned flora in a circle around her, I can’t imagine this show will see too much movement on stage, this is all about being lost in the music and experience rather than theatrics. The sound of this show is bloody fantastic too, such a great balance of the band backing her but still very much keeping the focus on Myrkur’s vocals. The clash of styles between folk music and black metal with a tinge of symphonic is a wonderful combination and that combined with beautifully done lighting that has clearly had so much care put into it makes for a real engrossing show.
The juxtaposition of intense black metal drumming and guitars against Myrkur’s sweet and high vocal passages come across brilliantly too, there’s no weird smothering of each part, so you get a superb insight into the intended sound of the music. I’m completely entranced by this whole show, I’m a real sucker for anything with strong energy but beautiful melody and Myrkur has this in heaps.
As the show moves on, it becomes more and more apparent just how much care has gone into curating this setlist and the subsequent performance of it. Whether it’s quieter moments where the bass/keyboard player switches to purely a harmonizing vocal part to support Myrkur or hammering out the bassline, it all just works but in a way that you can see that countless hours have gone into rehearsals.
The music in general has been absolutely stellar but I cannot overstate just how much Myrkur’s vocals (and her supporting singer as well!) have been a true joy to listen to, what an insane range and the longer melody passages with such high notes leave me completely in awe. I’m mentally kicking myself for missing all those shows before but I’m glad I’ve finally made one as this has been really special.
Truly, truly stunning.
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