From everything I had heard or read about Nordic Giants, very few people manage to adequately sum up the experience of their gigs. The previous act, Everyone An Army, simply said “they will astound you, just like they astound everyone else they come across” and it was with some scepticism that I stood in The Duchess on a Tuesday evening awaiting the entrance of the Brighton-based duo.
The gig slowly picked up speed, starting with the three-piece York band Mononoké. Mixing softer melodies with bursts of hard rock, the band shared Nordic Giants’ focus upon instrumental music without a vocalist. Although they desired a little more stage presence and were hampered at times by self-deprecating comments, their music spoke for itself with some great riffs and a perfectly timed, technically slick set.
Next up was Everyone an Army, another three-piece band from Scarborough, who quickly upped the tempo of the gig. Their enjoyment of playing music was evident and was only increased by the strength of their vocalist and interestingly memorable songs, one titled ‘The Thundering Triumph of Knowing What’s Right’ and another, bizarrely, focused on abortion. Definitely one to watch for the future.
Finally it was time for Nordic Giants to take the stage. They arrived amidst smoke and blue lighting, covered in tribal masks obscuring their heads and torsos. Throughout the gig their atmospheric music acted as a soundtrack to the short films projected onto a screen behind the duo, creating an effect that very quickly captured the audience.
The cohesive effect created by the short films and reverberating melodies very quickly transported me someplace far away from the autumnal reality of an evening in Yorkshire. It could have been somewhere amongst the dystopian, futurists and, at one point, Russian images that danced on the screen behind smoke and strobe lighting but wherever it was, the rest of the audience were definitely there with me; mid song no-one stirred, entirely captivated by the screens and the masked individuals. The music and images blended seamlessly into one, making resistance and attempts to appreciate the separate elements of the performance futile. The audience and myself founding ourselves drawn into the Nordic Giants experience – an arresting sensory overload.
It was definitely an experience far away from the archetypal gig. The clearly talented, yet anonymous, individuals created layered rhythms and melodies alongside very strong, but not overwhelming, drumming. Sampling from two keyboards, one member of Nordic Giants played the trumpet on a few tracks, most notably ‘Drumfire’, whilst another alternated between analogue and electronic drum kit and a guitar played with a violin bow.
Undeniably ‘Last Breath’, a short film by David Jackson, stood out from the rest of evening. Complimented brilliantly by Nordic Giants’ ‘Through a Lens Darkly’, the on-screen story took centre stage; a violent tale of scuba divers resurfacing to find the only oxygen left is what they have in their tanks. It was extremely immersive, more than a little bit harrowing and, whilst not everyone’s cup of tea, impossible to deny as summative of the entrancing effect Nordic Giants’ progressive and innovative take on the gig experience has. When the film and music work together as well as they did then, the atmosphere in the room was almost tangible. I can only describe it as the effect a really good 3D film has; the power to transport and place you within what’s happening in front of you. A track with bluesy singer Jake Reid, ‘The Seed’, was another highlight and worked well within the mostly instrumental setlist. Overall the music created by Nordic Giants worked brilliantly with the film clips, and although some voice-overs intruded on the atmospheric piano and drums, it blended into a pretty seamless, slightly cult-like, experience.
The gig kept us talking and thinking for hours after. It was, and definitely is, hard to capture completely in words. But this slipperiness summarises the nature of Nordic Giants as a band and asks the question, just where do they fit into the music spectrum? Witnessing Nordic Giants live challenges the normality of gigs one suspects are happening in similar venues across the country. For a fan of their music the live experience is unbeatable and so perhaps here Nordic Giants limit themselves; the radio simply cannot do them justice.
In contrast to the amount of conversation it provoked, it may have been the only gig I’ve ever been to in which the artists did not speak. Not a single word of announcement or goodbye, just a rather modest bow at the end. I doubt it will be the last I go to, however, as I definitely plan on witnessing Nordic Giants in action again; even just to be able to put my finger on what it is that makes them so special.