Skáld

My friend T— invited me to a show at the Rickshaw last night. As per most of my concerts, I knew almost nothing about the performers going in. I checked a Skáld song on YouTube before agreeing, but for the most part I went because … the band’s called Skáld. How could I say no?

The opening act was a solo musician named Wallgrin. Her Bandcamp page describes her music as “bronze age pop”. I’m not quite sure how to parse that, especially when she came out on stage with a synthesizer.

She’s a great singer, but I found the music kind of lacking. I kept wanting drums to kick in. After a few songs, she stepped away from the synthesizer and started singing to prerecorded music, including—yes—drums. I enjoyed the rest of the set a lot more.

I can’t say I got a great sense for her music, but she’s a good performer, and she did a great job under tough conditions. I’m going to have to check out more of her stuff.

Then the headliner came out. Skáld is a French folk group, singing mainly in Old Norse and playing (mostly) traditional Scandinavian instruments. They’re the answer to the following question: “What would the Viking equivalent of heavy metal sound like?” Apparently lots of heavy drumming, droning strings, chanting, and ethereal singing. It was fantastic.

Pictures!

The full band. I wish I could name all the instruments, but I have no idea what to say other than “not a mandolin”, “a stringed instrument”, and “drums”. The guy on the left was the frontman and talked to the audience the most. Check out his headbanging below.

That said, I think this guy on the right was the MVP.

Basking in the glow of the appreciative audience.