Very Solid! – Iðnó pt. 1

It was an early start at Iðnó on Saturday. The band Vigri went on stage just after seven o’clock and played extremely melodic and well crafted electronic music. The vocal arrangements were nothing short of dazzling and complemented their keen sense of melody very well. Vigri have a developed and mature sound and are absolutely worth a better slot.

Next up was singer/songwriter Eivør Pálsdóttir from the Faroe Islands. Eivør’s performance was obviously the major draw during the first half of the night and a line formed outside of Iðnó while she performed. Eivør is a very gifted vocalist with an incredible range and did not disappoint her audience. She is an experienced performer who connects well with her audience and was able to create a very intimate setting at Iðnó, singing in English, Icelandic and Faroese. Eivør’s music has developed since she lived in Iceland almost ten years ago. Gone are the majestic vocal arrangements that marked her performances and instead she presents a more crafted and a more disciplined sound with more introspective lyrics.

We Are Wolves are a cool rock band from Canada whose members, at least a couple of them, took the stage donning black face paint, nylon stockings covering their heads. They started with a bang, pulled off a rock star performance and finished their set with an excellent cover of Black Sabbath’s Paranoid. Great stuff.

One really starts to wonder what’s in the cereal in Canada because Moon King, also from that haven of socialized healthcare and maple syrup, was also a really good band. They experienced technical difficulties in the beginning – some stage equipment caught fire in one song into their set – but the sound technician fixed in such a flash that it was just a nice short moment and then the band came back with a vengeance. Their sound is a very fun, cool rock with punk elements; both the lead singer and singing guitarist gave strong and impressive performances. In fact, the guitar player was probably the coolest girl I witnessed over the  festival. The singer made valid complaints about the venue’s lighting at the venue, asking that the stage be properly lit. Those wishes were granted, and the band’s set benefited greatly from it. This is great music.

Many people showed up to see Mammút, and their performance proved that they are a mature band with a developed sound – and a singer in line with the trend of the night: A painted black face. Mammút play indie rock, but their sound is surprisingly heavy and their songs are often marked by some serious guitar riffs, serious to the point of heavy metal. Their songs are often unconventional and one never knows how they progress. They have a dedicated fan base that showed up on Saturday, and I can not imagine anyone was disappointed because Mammút – like every single artist this first half of the night – nailed their performance.