It’s rare occasion nowadays when I attend a gig and know absolutely nothing about the band I’m about to see. The only thing I had read about The Nordic Giants was that they “were fans of Sigur Ros and Pink Floyd”. Well, that’s me, so I was full of anticipation.
Manchester’s wonderful Deaf Institute was the venue for Tuesday nights entertainment, and first up, playing to about half capacity, was a 3 piece outfit calling themselves athousandfurs who were playing only their 3rd gig together.
What a noise they made together, and more importantly what a voice the singer has. An extremely powerful falsetto, reminiscent of Jeff Buckley, and some of the songs they played were similar too. Turns out they don’t have anything recorded yet, but an EP is due later in the year. If you sign up on their website, you will be sent some files at a later date.
So on to the main act, and the eerie background music was the perfect backdrop for what was to come as the lights dimmed. I took a seat at the back of the venue to get a better view of the stage as there was a projector screen at the back , and what looked like a large speaker stage centre, front, which turned out to be another screen. This was clearly going to be a visual, theatrical affair. The guy sitting next to me who had travelled down from Kendal for the evening was twitching with excitement and refused to tell me anything about the show about to unfurl.
On the duo came, dressed in elaborate leather and feather headdresses obscuring their faces, and presumably their identities, and one sat stage left at the keyboards, and the other stage right at the drum kit. The video kicked into life, showing some story of a bleak futuristic dystopian world and the music exploded into life to accompany the visuals. And what a noise they make for just a pair, albeit aided by background tapes and any singing is done by a pre recorded soundtrack.
The second track accompanied a short film about a few friends turning up at a lake for a scuba diving afternoon, only for things to take a drastic turn for the worse upon resurfacing. The Nordic Giant stage right was playing a guitar with a bow - very Sigur Ros, while the Nordic Giant stage left was on keys and trumpet at the same time. Stirring, ambient and euphoric all at the same time.
The rest of the hour or so they were on stage was much the same - soundtracking various videos of animation, live action, and a female vocalist on one track, but never predictable or anything less than fascinating. One track was played to the animation of a running horse whilst what sounded like a historical war speech was being played in the background. The similarities with Public Service Broadcasting was evident.
Just an hour had passed and our 2 heroes bowed to the crowd and made their way off stage, only to return a couple of minutes later for the encore. This was an epic film called Jojo In The Stars, and they were joined by the support band to create an even bigger, swirling wall of sound.
And then they were gone just over a hour and a quarter, but we didn’t feel short changed - they managed to cram a lot into that time.
Much discussion was then had about what we had just seen - was it a rock concert ? Was it theatre ? Was it all a bit pretentious ? and was it at all original ? Actually, who cares what it was. Were they for fans of Sigur Ros and Pink Floyd? I guess so. One things for sure it was hugely entertaining, spectacular and if it then prompts debate, surely it’s worth it?? I’ll be back for more when they return.
Keith @kjsmith4082
