Björk - Hammersmith Apollo. 24th September 2016. Live review

Björk - Hammersmith Apollo

Live review. 24th September 2016.

In recent years Björk has not played many live concerts outside of festivals, so when I found out that she was playing in London when I happened to be in town I jumped at the chance to get a ticket. This meant meeting up with a German punk with a 1980s British electronic pop obsession, who had flown from Berlin for the concert, and a woman who had flown in specifically from Spain to be here. Her next trip to Britain will be to see Korn and Limp Bizkit play in Glasgow. 

I know it's a song by a different Icelandic mob,
but it seemed an appropriate place for pre-gig drinks

It is fair to say that Björk has a diverse collection of admirers, as eclectic as her music has been over the years. After my German friend and I had traded stories of recent Adam Ant concerts we had been to we settled down to see what Iceland's pop pixie had dreamt up for us tonight. Sitting next to me was another guy from Glasgow. He was seeing Björk again for the first time since he saw her play the Barrowlands with The Sugarcubes in 1988. For me it was my first time, definitely one ticked off of my personal bucket list.

Björk at the Hammersmith Apollo, London 

As the lights darkened the string orchestra who would accompany her all night took their places. With an elaborate, lacey mask covering her face and dressed like a diaphanous, white jellyfish complete with dangling tendrils, she came on stage and launched into the songs from her recent Vulnicura album. When originally launched the album was co-produced by Arca and the Haxan Cloak. The lyrics told the story of the recent end of her marriage, her rising and falling voice crackling with emotion. A few months later a new version of the album was released, Vulnicura Strings; her voice, no percussion and a string section accompaniment. Seeing this live it had an almost Baroque quality to the sound. With just her voice and the Aurora chamber orchestra, here a 26-piece strings section, it's a sound that could have been made anytime in the past 450 years since the violin was invented, if anyone had ever imagined it before now. Despite it being 28 years since she sang at the Glasgow Barrowlands her distinctive voice and vocal style are undimmed. In fact I was blown away by the energy of her singing.

Björk and the Aurora Orchestra 

Her fluorescent costume flicked through various colours as she hovvered in front of the musicians, the biting History of Touches a stand out performance from the first half.

Björk at the Hammersmith Apollo 

After a quick break, and change of costume, in the second half she went through several older tracks, now given string arrangements. Dressed in red, this half had a different energy and pace, her voice the lead instrument, playing just off the rhythm of the orchestra throughout. With three songs from the 1997 album Homogenic, and The Anchor Song from her 1993 album Debut in her final encore, there was plenty for the fans that have been with her all the way to enjoy. Only at the end was I aware that I'd been grinning warmly all evening. 

Aloof, ethereal, weird, dramatic. If ever one person seems to encapsulate the place they come from, Björk seems to be Iceland, the land of ice, fire and elves, condensed into one human being. A work of art.

Holiday snaps from beautiful Iceland 

Iceland 

Ólafur Arnalds Plays Broadchurch. Glasgow Film Festival, ABC. Live review

Ólafur Arnalds Plays Broadchurch. ABC, Glagsow. Live review. 25 Feb, 2015

There ended up being an accidentally Northerm European slant to the events in this years Glasgow Film Festival which I managed to get to. First there was the "Moomins on the Riviera", a traditionally animated cartoon, bringing Finn Tove Jansson's bizarre characters to the big screen. Then I went with my son to see Icelandic composer Ólafur Arnalds perform from his soundtrack of the TV series Broadchurch amongst other pieces. I had been listening to it at home the previous week and my 12 year old son thought it was great so we decided we'd both go. 

About 10 years ago we went on a family holiday to Iceland, one of the best trips we've had. As is my want, at the time I was trying to soak up some Icelandic culture before we went. As well as reading the novels of Halldór Laxness and Hallgrímur Helgason I took in any Icelandic musicians that were passing through Glasgow. As I liked what I found I've kept on doing it. This meant that I have got to enjoy Múm, Sigur Ros, Mugison and Amiina amongst others (I suspect this may mean that I've seen Ólafur Arnalds cousin, Ólöf Arnalds, perform at some point). Since I made that trip the opportunities to hear the distinctive sound of Iceland has become increasingly easy in Glasgow ever since BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra conductor Ilan Volkov joined the Iceland Symphony Orchestra. In the past couple of years diverse acts such as S.L.Á.T.U.R. and the fabulous Hildur Guðnadóttir have played in Glasgow as part of the Tectonics festival which Ilan Volkov curates. 

So as well as the Icelandic angle appealing to me for this concert there was also the fact that I am a big fan of soundtrack music, although I don't really think it counts as a distinct musical genre as it contains such a diverse range of stuff. When I was younger the soundtracks from the films "The Godfather"  and from "Betty Blue" were two of my favourite albums. More recently I have had been listening a lot to Broadcast's soundtrack for Berberian Sound Studio, Mogwai's album for French TV series Les Revenants and driving about Glasgow picking up strangers in my car whilst listening to Mica Levi's Under the Skin soundtrack. I haven't ever watched Broadchurch but I guess it is a pretty tense, haunting and melancholy affair as that was the feeling I got from listening to the soundtrack album this week. 

For the live performance at the ABC in Glasgow Ólafur Arnalds sits at the grand piano, synthesizer and iPad. He is accompanied by a string quartet (have at least one of them been in Aamina?), two musicians on French horn and another on keybord/ Octapad/ trombone. At times the playing is quiet and ethereal whilst the audience's attention is gripped throughout. At other times, supplemented with a crescendo of electronic percussion, the drama mounts, augmented by the austere lighting at the back of the stage. Despite the sombre and unsettling music, between tracks Arnalds is affable, witty and chatty with the audience. As well as the Broadchurch music he dips in and out of his back catalogue too, giving us a bit of context to the music.

In the middle of the performance singer Arnór Dan joins them onstage. Looking like John Hartson and sounding like Andy Bell, he gives us a chance to hear his song from the Broadchurch end credits, which he laments is usually interrupted by the ITV continuity announcer. It is an excellent change in the tone of an evening which has been put together so well, and flows perfectly. 



The well put together shape of the evening is made clear by the two songs of the encore. At the end Arnalds is left alone on stage to round off the night perfectly by performing the evocative "Lag fyrir ömmu" (For Granma). 

As I am making another trip to Iceland this summer I am putting together a new holiday playlist. I've got Ásgeir on there, I'm waiting patiently for Bjork's Vulnicura album to come out, but I've just added a few Ólafur Arnalds tracks to it in the meantime. It is rare for my taste and my son's musical taste to overlap, but tonight it did.