CIGARS AND CHOCKOLADE

Grand Rokk’s upper floor was packed with people and spirits were high on last Thursday night for Apparat Organ Quartet’s first gig in a year. Promoting new songs among some old fan favourites, Apparat Organ Quartet consists of four organ players and a drummer. Yes, that’s a 5-piece quartet. Apparat has only released one album so far, bearing the same name as the band, with another album on the way. All the members have been in numerous bands in the scene: Kanada, HAM, Bag of Joy, Hringir, Músíkhvatur, Kósý, Lhooq. So, they know their stuff.
The music is electronic and all played live, with no playback, and with the feel and drive of a tight rock’n’roll band. That should not be a surprise, as two members of the quartet come from HAM, Icelandic rock gods… and, of course, one of them is a church organist.
Their songwriting is rather minimalist, usually a song is full of repeats, the same chord repeated, and lyrics are usually just the same word repeated. All played with an Eastern European mechanical feel. And it sounds great. The no playback thing results in them bringing to every gig a full organ line up (the roadie’s nightmare…) and making the show enjoyable to look at.
The recent show opened with songs from the next album, which are in the same style and just as good as the old ones, and ended with older hits. When the encore of “Romantica” and “Stereo Rock’n’Roll” hit the crowd, it went bananas. On top of that, Apparat always perform dressed in suits and that night they welcomed the audience with chockolade and cigars, which were as well received as the concert was brilliant.