Live from Mengi

Yesterday I performed at the experimental concert venue Mengi in downtown Reykjavík. The performance was broadcast through Facebook and Youtube as part of Mengi’s live stream festival - Tómleikar (a new Icelandic term which means “a concert for an empty house”). The program consists of five songs, three of them are from my work Reykjavík GPS and the other two are from my albums Innsaei and Field Recordings: Music from the Ether.

With me on stage was an incredible team of musicians who gave new meaning to my songs:
Skúli Sverrisson bassist, composer and artistic director of Mengi - one of my great heroes in music (check out his Seria albums) and an incredible instrumentalist who sometimes approaches the bass more like a guitar or a synthesizer. Magnús Trygvason Eliasson, probably the most active drummer on the experimental scene, whose musical approach to drumming and unique playful style never seizes to impress. Karl James Pestka is not only a fantastic viola player, arranger and composer in his own right, but he’s also developed a unique and elaborate effect pedal chain through which he plays his electric violin and sometime operates its controls with his toes! And at last (but not least) my brother Halldór Eldjárn performs on vibes and modular synth. He’s of course both a wonderful musician and a brother who’s always there for me when I need him. Halldór has helped me out so many times with programming for my projects, playing drums, percussion, timpani or synths.

It was such an honour to have these incredible musicians on stage with me and it also felt so incredibly good to finally perform music live again! I hope we can someday do a performance like this in front of a real live audience. The video from the performance will stay up. Make sure to listen on good headpones or speakers if you can.