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Archive for the ‘Aurora’ Category

Aurora (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, June 2, 2022)

Posted in Aurora, Norway, Philadelphia, PA, Sub Urban, T., Union Transfer on June 3, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: June 2, 2022] Aurora

I love Aurora.  She puts on a great show and is just chock full of positive energy.  We saw her two years ago and I was excited to see her again.

After a break, Aurora came out.

Last time, she had giant jellyfish hanging from the ceiling.  This time she had a curtain in the back of the stage a giant circle behind her.  It acted as a backdrop and a light source.

Her new album, The Gods We Can Touch had just come out and she played a number of songs from it.  Even though many of her songs are dancey, she had an acoustic guitar for “everything Matters” (along with electronic keys and drums).  

Her song “Blood in the Wine” is a wonderfully passionate song with a fantastic hook that I can’t get out of my head.

Of course, Aurora has her dedicated fans.  Several of them brought her gifts.  Someone even gave her a teapot.  (How would she bring that home in her suitcase?)

It’s easy to think of Aurora and her fan base (“Warriors”) as a bit too much, as she is practically a living embodiment of a Norwegian fairy.  But she is so sincere, that her passion as she talks between songs (in her near-perfect English, faltering just enough to make it all the more effective) is palpable.  And if you aren’t moved by a song like “Warrior” (which everyone sings along to) then you are too hardened by life.

Aurora seems like her music would be ethereal and aloof, but a song like “A Temporary High” has a pounding drum beat. (more…)

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Sub Urban (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, June 2, 2022) [AURORA]

Posted in Aurora, Benee, Billie Eilish, Philadelphia, PA, Sub Urban, T., Union Transfer on June 2, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: June 2, 2022] Sub Urban

I love Aurora.  She puts on a great show and is just chock full of positive energy.  We saw her two years ago and I was excited to see her again.

I had no idea who Sub Urban was, but I enjoyed the name (it’s kinda clever and he’s from Ridgewood, NJ, right near where I grew up and also where the band Real Estate is from!).  Turns out that Sub Urban actually had a viral hit called “Cradles.”  

In fact, before the show started when I was waiting for my daughter to come out of the bathroom I saw a little girl with her dad and I said something about how great Aurora was and the girl reply “I’m not here for her, I’m here for Sub Urban.”  Huh.  

He also had a new single called “UH-OH” which featured New Zealand Singer Benee (who sounds so much like Billie Eilish it’s insane).  And, indeed, Aurora guests on one of his songs as well (“Paramour” which he did not play). (more…)

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Richard Rayner–“After the Movie” (New Yorker, April 30, 2007)

Posted in Aurora, Massive Attack, New Yorker, Norway, Richard Rayner, Short Story, Suicide, The Beatles, Verftet Festival on July 31, 2021| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: AURORA-Verftet Online Music Festival 2020 (April 20, 2020).

In April 2020, Norway’s Verftet Music Festival streamed an online concert:

Get ready for Verftet Online Music Festival, Bergen’s largest virtual concert festival, where we can enjoy great music together. We want to turn despair and frustration into innovation and positivity, and invite everyone to a digital festival experience out of the ordinary – right home in your own living room.

Aurora played a 45 minute home concert for Verftet which you can see online.

The show starts with her at the piano (an unusual sight), playing the lovely ballad “Animal Soul.”  Then the drums start and Aurora and her band play a fantastic cover of the Massive Attack/Liz Frasier song “Teardrop.”  It sounds pretty cool on piano and even though Liz Frasier’s voice is unique in the world Aurora sounds terrific.

“Warrior” sounds very different from the recorded version, because it’s still rather quiet (although louder than the other songs).  Silja Sol has taken over piano and sings absolutely gorgeous harmonies.  Hearing the song stripped down shows what a powerful song it i

“All Is Soft Inside” opens with quiet echoing guitars and features more great backing vocals from Silja.  Although when Aurora sings a capella for a few beats it shows how great her voice is.  This song is really terrific.

Then she says something very Aurora: “I’m itching on my bum but I don’t want to do it on camera,  can you just film Magnus while I scratch my butt.”

Followed by some sage advice for pandemic times: “Its okay to be worthless, no not worthless, unproductive… we don’t have to do more than just exist sometimes.”

“Through The Eyes Of A Child” is a beautiful with just her and Silja on the piano.  The a capella verse with the deep and high harmonies sounds wonderful.  The song builds with the rest of the musicians adding in the guitar and drums.

“The River” grows bigger but is still restrained.  As is “Queendom,” her huge dance hit.  But even in this stripped down very it is still catchy and super fun.

“The Seed” is a wonderfully dark and powerful song.  For this quiet version, Silja plays quiet echoing guitar and the song builds into an intense climax (which is still quite restrained compared to the original).  But we can’t overlook the deep vocals from Magnus on the drums.

The set ends with a beautiful cover of The Beatles’ “Across The Universe” a song that will “take us away, a dreamy song… a perfect world… a beautiful hippie paradise.”  It’s a lovely gentle cover with amazing harmonies from Silja.

[READ: July 20, 2021] “After the Movie”

This is a very dark story.  It’s about Ed, a writer and filmmaker whose recent books have flopped.

He and his wife had just come back from the movies and his mood was foul.  He went to bed without saying good night to the kids.  Instead of falling asleep, he found himself sitting up and crying,

He genuinely considered killing himself.  He had no money coming in, they had borrowed against the house.  They had nothing left.  He was nothing,

Muldoon had called him this afternoon from Amsterdam.

Ed sat in bed and remembered back to when he was trying to perk up his friend Muldoon who was then having a similar slump. Ed encouraged him to hang in there.  And look at Muldoon now. (more…)

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Claudio Magris–“Curving Time in Krems” (Harper’s, June 2021)

Posted in Anne Milano Appel, Aurora, Claudio Magris, Huh?, Norway, Philosophy, Romance, Short Story, Silja Sol, Translation, Verftet Online Music Festival on July 25, 2021| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: SILJA SOL-Verftet Online Music Festival 2020 (April 5, 2020).

In April 2020, Norway’s Verftet Music Festival streamed an online concert:

Get ready for Verftet Online Music Festival, Bergen’s largest virtual concert festival, where we can enjoy great music together. We want to turn despair and frustration into innovation and positivity, and invite everyone to a digital festival experience out of the ordinary – right home in your own living room.

Sadly, most of the performances are unavailable, but this one from Siljia Sol (who is also Aurora’s backing vocalist) is streaming.

She plays ten songs in about 40 minutes, singing entirely in Norwegian.

“Kometen” is a two minute opener.  It has trippy synths and feels like an introductory lullaby.  Silja has an amazing voice, with quite a range.  Here it is soft and childlike.  But “Superkresen” turns into a fully 80s dance song.  It fits perfectly with the totally80s visuals of her set.

“Hatten” continues the bounciness.  This song feels poppier with a quietly soaring chorus.  “Hultertilbult” is more guitar-based and feels more organic.  As does “Ni Liv” which has a more prominent bass line.  This song has nice soaring backing vocals from her guitarist.

I don’t know the originals of these songs at all, but this feels like a restrained rendition.  Not quite unplugged, but perhaps more suitable for watching on your couch.

For “Stemning” she moves to the piano and plays a quiet ballad–her voice is lovely here.

The dancing returns for “Løgneren.”  Throughout these songs, Silja’s voice reminds me of Aurora’s, probably because her voice is essential to all live Aurora songs (and because they are both Norwegian).  With Aurora Silja hits incredibly high soaring notes and she really doesn’t do that in her own songs.  Although she does hit some high notes here.

“Semmenemme” has a more rhythmic approach–with almost a rapping vibe.  “Eventyr” cranks up the guitar more with a nice groove behind it.

“Dyrene” ends the set with the most catchy song of the bunch.  It is more subtle but features some nice soaring high vocals in the chorus.

It’s fascinating listening to ten songs and having no idea (at all) what they are about.  I’m very curious to hear if her recorded output has a more or less 80s vibe going on.

You can stream the set here.

[READ: July 10, 2021] “Curving Time in Krems”

This story was really cerebral and metaphysical. as such it took a really long time to get to the point.  It was also an incredibly long story for what amounts to: boy calls girls he had a crush on and wished he had done so sooner.

The main character is an academic invited to a dinner party in Krems, a city that “resembles Vineta, the city submerged by waters.”  Snow had fallen making the oblivious old town even more deserted.

A woman at the dinner insists that her cousin attended classes with him and spoke about him recently.  He tells her this is impossible as he did not have female classmates.

He figures out that the woman is talking about Nori S.  But Nori was a grade ahead of him and there’s no way she would remember him.

For a seventeen-year-old boy, a beguiling eighteen-year-old girl is more inaccessible than a Hollywood diva is to a professor [that’s a weird simile, there].

(more…)

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E.C. Osondu–“Wealth of Memory” (Harper’s, June 2021)

Posted in Aurora, E.C. Osondu, Harper's, Immigrants, Memory, Short Story, The Future on July 23, 2021| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: AURORA-“Cure for Me” (2021).

Aurora seems to be a lot more prolific these days.  Or, at least, she’s more visible–releasing playlists and lots of other online items.  She has also released this new single.  I was delighted to hear it get some airplay on SiriusXM’s Alt Nation.

Starting with a slinky synth sound and a pulsing beat, Aurora sings in a whispery voice.

I run from the liars, the fuel on the fire
I know I created myself

As the bridge comes in she sings an uncharacteristic deep note (accentuating her accent a bit) and then after 45 second the super catchy chorus bursts forth

It’s the most dancey song she’s done so far (even more so than the dancey “Queendom”) and it’s positive and self-affirming:

I don’t need a cure for me
I don’t need it

If you don’t feel like moving to this song, you need to listen again–it’ll get you.

About this song she writes (from NME):

Like always, I got inspired by a really huge, dark and horrible thing that happens in the world. The first seed of inspiration came from thinking about the countries where it’s still legal to do conversion therapy for gay people and lesbians. I just thought that’s so pointless. The first idea was me saying, ‘I don’t need a cure for me – just let me live, man!’”

She continued: “Why is it so difficult for people to just let others be themselves? Then I thought that it could mean many other things. People tend to believe quite quickly that something is wrong with them if they’re not like the people they see in front of them. It’s so sad that it doesn’t take much for us to really doubt ourselves.”

Right on.

[READ: July 20, 2021] “Wealth of Memory”

This story comes from a book called Alien Stories.  This title has multiple meanings, obviously.

I love the way the story is set up:

One of the things he found most fascinating about America was that there were memory Stores on almost every street corner.  A person could simply walk into any of the stores and sell heir memories for money.

What a wonderfully succinct introduction to this world.

There were other things he liked about America–twist off beer bottles!–but he was most intrigued by the Memory Stores. (more…)

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Lorrie Moore–“Face Time” (New Yorker, September 28, 2020)

Posted in Alanis Morissette, Aurora, Coronavirus, Hospitals, Joe Biden, Lorrie Moore, New Yorker, Short Story on October 25, 2020| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: AURORA-“Thank U” (2020).

The Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls series is soon to be releasing a record Good Night Songs for Rebel Girls.

Unfortunately, the site doesn’t list the songs on the disc (yet).

The first song from it that I’m aware of is Aurora’s cover of Alanis Morissette’s “Thank U.”

 I don’t know that I’ve heard Aurora sing another person’s song before.  I kind of expected her version to be radically different–uniquely Aurora.  But in fact, her version is quite faithful to the original.

The music is understated (Aurora’s music is a little softer) and when Aurora starts singing, it almost sounds like Alanis.  The big difference comes in some of the vowels, in which Aurora’s voice glides through the sounds in a slightly different way (a little smoother, perhaps).

In the original, Alanis’ “thank you silence” line is a little harsh sounding.  Aurora’s is a little as well–it must be a very sharp note or tone to hit.

Alanis’s song is based around some thumping drums and bigger swells.  Aurora keeps the whole thing lower key and the cover works beautifully.

[READ: October 24, 2020] “Face Time”

This is actually the second story I’ve read about COVID.  As I was reading it I was surprised that it was about COVID–that it was so current.  The story even mentions Tom Hanks having COVID which happened in March.  This story was published in September and was clearly finished before then (I don’t know how much lead time a story needs). So that’s pretty quick.  And it’s pretty spot on.

There’s not a lot to the story, in a sense.  A woman, one of three adult daughters, is FaceTiming her father who is in a nursing home.  Her father caught COVID while in the facility.  He is now in an isolation room being monitored by nurses in full hazmat gear.

The daughters can only talk to him through FaceTime.  He is older and does not understand the technology, so the nurses have to set up the connection. (more…)

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Aurora (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, March 9, 2019)

Posted in Aurora, Philadelphia, PA, S., T., Union Transfer on March 9, 2019| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: March 9, 2019] Aurora

I enjoyed the Aurora show in New York so much that I knew I’d want to see her again.  I also knew that I could bring my wife and daughter to the show and they would be equally enthralled even if they didn’t know her music very well.

This was my daughter’s first club show and I thought she’d be pretty excited at the prospect.  But we do go to a lot of different live entertainment, so she wasn’t any more excited than usual.  Although I think she enjoyed the fact that we weren’t in seats, because she liked walking from where we were to up close by the stage.

Aurora’s stage design was minimal but cool–five or six large jellyfish hung from the ceiling.  The lights were a dark blue–feeling very underwater as she sang the beautiful and haunting “Churchyard.”  Her voice is powerful and amazing (even if she was a little under the weather–she told us an amazing story about the color of her snot).  And it’s very funny when she speaks between songs because she is quiet and soft-spoken.  She tells adorable, weird stories (which has garnered her an overly dedicated, slightly annoying, eye-rolling fan base).  The kind of fan base who shouts, “no thank YOU!” every time Aurora says thanks.  On the plus side, this fan base is absolutely respectful while she sings which is wonderful because you can hear everything.

The setlist was very similar to the show in NYC, although I actually didn’t realize it until i looked at them right now.  In NYC, the new songs hadn’t been released yet so they were new and ephemeral.  By now they were well established.

She continued to sound amazing through the uptempo “Warrior” and “Gentle Earthquakes.”

I tend to not like dance music or aggressively pop music and Aurora certainly falls within the confines of that style, especially a song like “All is Soft Inside.”  But she has this wonderful off-kilter presentation.  It certainly has something to do with her being from Norway and living what appears to a be a fairly isolated existence.  She just sings differently.  It’s not weird or radically different, it’s just not the same as what everyone else does.  And her sense of melody is also slightly different.  It’s really wonderful.

She slowed things down with the disturbing ballad “Murder Song (5,4,3,2,1)” followed by the other sad song (she apologized for these songs being so sad), “Runaway,” a soaring beautifully sad song.

The stage production was mostly understated.  Some lights, changing occasionally and appropriately.  Mostly it was an opportunity of Aurora to dance and dance–an infectious dance.  But “The Seed” was just utterly intense with the flashing strobe lights in the more intense moments.  And when the strobe ended and the stage when briefly black it was an incredibly moment.

Things really quieted down for “It Happened Quiet” where it was just her and her amazing keyboardist/backing vocalist Silja Sol.  Then she came back with the new single “Animal” which brought everyone back up with some great dance.

The rest of her band is really stellar.  Most of them are from Bergen Norway.  Magnus Åserud Skylstad plays drums and while I’m sure there are a lot of electronics in the kit, the sound was powerful and amazing.  Odd Martin Skålnes is the bassist in her band.  His backing vocals–largely singing low but occasionally going high–are fantastic.  Although nobody’s backing vocals were as amazing as Silja Sol.  She may actually get higher than Aurora.  Throughout the show her voice was just wonderful–perfectly complementing Aurora in whatever was sounded best.  Aurora’s voice is great, but with Silja Sol, she is unbelievable.

I love the new song “Forgotten Love” which she followed with the older song “I Went Too Far.”

The show was nearing its end and my daughter grabbed my hand because she wanted me to come up really close to the stage.  To the left of the stage is an artist’s entrance.  And not many people were there.  So this afforded us an amazing view of her from very close up.  I wouldn’t have wanted to stay there for the whole show as you miss everything else going on stage (the sound was also a little different there but still sounded great).  But it was really cool being a few yards away from Aurora with my daughter while she sang the stunning “Running with the Wolves” one of my favorite of her songs.

Aurora left for an encore break and when she came back it was just her and keyboardist Sean McVerry (the only American playing that night, he also had a solo set earlier in the evening).  They played the lovely “Infections of a Different Kind.”  When the show started people were passing out small paper hearts with instructions to shine out phone light behind them during this song.  Many people did and it looked very cool–she even commented on how lovely it was.

During the encore break, people brought her all manner of creative things including a rather large painting which was, frankly, creepy as all hell.  Aurora was so kind and said she would put it over her bed, but damn, it would give me nightmares.

She ended the show was the wonderful “Queendom.”  It was catchy and dancy and the whole room vibrated with fun.  I especially liked that she said there would be no presidents in her queendom.  She also brought out a rainbow flag to wave around.  And then the spell was over and we were back out in the cold night.

I don’t know if it was the life-enhancing moment that I wanted it to be for my daughter, but my wife has certainly become a fan.  Maybe when my daughter goes to her first concert on her own she’ll remember being that close to someone who is inexplicably not huge.

 

 

Union Transfer 2019 Bowery Ballroom 2018
Chrurchyard ⊗ Nature Boy
Warrior ∀ Warrior ∀
Gentle Earthquakes ⊗ Gentle Earthquakes ⊗
All Is Soft Inside ⊗ Under Stars *
Murder Song (5, 4, 3, 2, 1) ∀ Forgotten Love ⊗
Runaway ∀ Murder Song (5, 4, 3, 2, 1) ∀
The Seed ℵ Runaway ∀
It Happened Quiet ⊗ Soft Universe ⊗
Animal ℵ Queendom ⊗
Forgotten Love ⊗ All is Soft Inside ⊗
I Went Too Far ∀ Animal ℵ
Running with the Wolves ∀ I Went Too Far ∀
encore The Seed ℵ
Infections of a Different Kind ⊗ Running with the Wolves ∀
Queendom ⊗ encore
Through the Eyes of a Child ∀

* early single
∀ All My Demons Greeting Me as a Friend
⊗ Infections of a Different Kind Step 1
ℵ new unreleased

 

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Talos (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, March 9, 2019) [AURORA]

Posted in Aurora, Philadelphia, PA, Sigur Rós, Talos, Union Transfer on March 9, 2019| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: March 9, 2019] Talos

When I saw that Talos was opening for Aurora. I looked them up online and heard a couple of songs which I thought sounded cool.  They were ethereal and soaring with lead singer Eoin French’s vocals rising to an incredible falsetto.

Turns out Talos are from Cork, Ireland and the band is largely French’s creation.   As I understand it, he created all of the music on his first album (which was more electronic) and now has this massive five-piece backing him.  Although on stage there were five total, so I’m not sure who was actually at our show.

The band made amazing atmospheric music.  Between the synths that the keyboardist/bassist was playing and the guitar/synths that French played, the songs were just full of textures.  Couple that with French’s voice which was really powerful but could also reach staggering heights, and add in the flair and splash of a drummer and a percussionist and you have an amazing symphonic sound that really rocks.

They had a Sigur Rós vibe, but were definitely doping their own thing. (more…)

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Sean McVerry (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, March 9, 2019] [AURORA]

Posted in Aurora, Philadelphia, PA, Sean McVerry, Talos, Union Transfer on March 9, 2019| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: March 9, 2019] Sean McVerry

After seeing Aurora in New York last year, I knew I’d go see her again if she came back to the States.  So I was pretty excited that she was scheduled to play Union Transfer.  I bought three tickets–one for me, one for S. and one for T.  This was going to be her first club show.  She had been to an arena to see Katy Perry, but I thought this experience would be really different for her.

Going in, she honestly wasn’t quite as excited about the whole thing as I thought she’d be.  I guess we’ve been to enough performances that this one didn’t seem very different.  We found a great spot against one of the lower raised sections.  This allowed S. and T. to rest against the wall and still have a great view.

Before the show, I listened to one or two songs from the opening act, Talos, and liked what I heard–atmospheric and keyboardy with high vocals and a cool rocking undercurrent.  So I was surprised when a nicely dressed fellow came out with an acoustic guitar. (more…)

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Aurora (Bowery Ballroom, New York, NY, May 30, 2018)

Posted in Aurora, Bowery Ballroom, New York City on May 30, 2018| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: May 30, 2018] Aurora

I first saw Aurora on a Tiny Desk Concert and I was mesmerized by the then 19-year-old.  There is somethings so innocent and sincere about her–so open, that it almost feels like you’re seeing something you shouldn’t.

I knew then (October 2016 when I watched it) that I wanted to see her live.  Turns out she was playing in Philly a few days after that but I missed the show, so I just had to wait until she came back.

Which was a year and a half later.  Turns out the Norwegian singer has written a lot of songs but doesn’t seem to record them very much.  And she didn’t come back to Philly. She was in New York for the Governor’s Ball and did an after dark show at the Bowery Ballroom.  Since I was not going to go to the Governor’s Ball, Bowery would have to do.

I try not to go to shows in NYC much anymore because the hassle is so great, but this one was worth it. (more…)

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