ByGD
This one time I was in Reykjavik and Sin Fang was playing an unadvertised show in an art gallery to promote a friend’s artwork. The performance was good but the sound was shit and that night I stepped outside of my own life and got to be a cool insider, leaning on an art gallery wall with my wine in a plastic cup and criticizing the mix. It’s the sort of thing that only happens (to me, at least) when you travel.
I'm a freelance content and grant writer in Seattle specializing in parenting, arts and the environment.
After having been a sound engineer for 40 years, I find that I have to “turn off” my critical sensibilities to really enjoy almost any live sound, but the coolness of the scene in Reykjavík makes up for it. There have been times, however, especially with some of the “artier” Icelandic acts (i.e., Ben Frost, Kira Kira) that I couldn’t overcome the awfulness and had to leave.
I think few people understand how much of their enjoyment of their favorite bands is unrelated to their playing. Amorphis put on a great show at Eistnaflug this year, but some of their sound choices made it so muddy you could hardly tell. Meshuggah albums often give me a stomach ache but their set was so crystal clear I enjoyed it immensely.
[…] final pairing was Sin Fang with the Seattle Rock Orchestra. I saw Sin Fang play an art gallery in Reykjavik when I was there in April, and my daughter’s violin teacher plays in the Seattle […]
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