Prog

ROADBURN FESTIVAL

VENUE VARIOUS VENUES, TILBURG, THE NETHERLAND­S DATE 19-22/04/2018

- HannaH May Kilroy

Roadburn Festival is known for its sheer volume of musical variety. Across a number of venues in Tilburg over four days, there’s everything from intense metal to out-there prog. It also frequently showcases musical collaborat­ions, from Damo Suzuki jamming with Earthless (more on that later) to a bunch of Icelandic black metal bands playing music they wrote especially for the festival.

Cult Of Luna and Julie Christmas have collaborat­ed before, on their spacey post-rock 2016 album Mariner, and tonight they play the album in full for one last time on the main stage. Christmas’ vocals are reminiscen­t of Björk at times, and the album has an apocalypti­c, almost sci-fi vibe that’s made all the more mesmerisin­g as the band appear silhouette­d onstage by the strobing lights and bursts of smoke, with Christmas dancing and shaking like a woman possessed.

Motorpsych­o are one of the bands on the bill chosen by the festival curator, Converge frontman Jacob Bannon. The Norwegians’ expansive blend of progressiv­e psych and experiment­al heaviness takes up two hours on the main stage on Friday, but the length doesn’t deter the masses. Against a trippy backdrop of swirling imagery, the band play a set that’s bursting with hypnotic guitar riffs and which perfectly spans their career, from 1997’s Un Chien D’Espace to the title track from their new album The Tower which closes the set to the audience’s delight.

The Green Room that plays host to Finnish quartet Kairon; IRSE! may be small, but the band’s sound is anything but. They take us on a journey that encompasse­s psychedeli­c prog, shoegaze, pastoral interludes and jazzy experiment­ation, with varied vocals that even elevate to falsetto levels. Visually, they’re entirely lost in the music, shaking their dreads against a backdrop that features a stonedlook­ing, blinking cartoon frog.

Roadburn Festival this year boasts a special presentati­on of Japanese psychedeli­a, and as part of this, Can legend Damo Suzuki plays two special sets, first with Earthless at the new venue Koepelhal on Friday, and again with fellow Japanese musicians Minami Deutsch on Saturday in the Green Room. Both are entirely improvised, full of drawn-out jams. Earthless’ set is more heavy psych and Minami Deutsch more neo-Krautrock. With Suzuki at the helm both times, waving his arms as if in a trance and lost in the creativity that’s pulsing around him, both capture the spirit of Roadburn.

Hugsjá is another musical collaborat­ion, this time featuring Enslaved’s Ivar Bjørnson and Wardruna’s Einar Selvik. It merges Norse history with grandiose music that’s both contempora­ry and primitive – some of their instrument­s even date back as far as the Stone Age. It’s richly cinematic and moving, but also a full-on cultural experience, with Selvik explaining the concepts and stories behind the songs.

Dressed in a billowy bright red dress, Zola Jesus, aka Nika Roza Danilova, is an expressive performer, dancing across the stage with intensity and enslaving the audience with her rich vocals and unique musical blend of electronic­a, gothy prog and classical. There’s no visual backdrop to her set in Koepelhal, but as such a captivatin­g artist, she doesn’t need one.

Godspeed You! Black Emperor play two sets over the course of the weekend, opening both performanc­es with the darkly atmospheri­c Hope Drone. Godspeed have always been about dynamics and crescendos – riding the wave between beauty and extremity, pummelling heaviness and sweeping melody, sometimes swerving into psychedeli­c pastures.

Behind them, images of desolate, urban landscapes provide a bleak yet entrancing backdrop. The packed main room remains enthralled during both of their expansive sets, as Godspeed provide a cathartic end to what has been a bewitching weekend of avant-garde music.

“GODSPEED YOU! BLACK EMPEROR RIDE THE WAVE BETWEEN BEAUTY AND EXTREMITY.”

 ??  ?? DREAM TEAM: CULT OF LUNA WITH JULIE CHRISTMAS. TIME TRAVELLER: HUGSJÁ’S
EINAR SELVIK ON A TRIP THROUGH NORSE HISTORY.
DREAM TEAM: CULT OF LUNA WITH JULIE CHRISTMAS. TIME TRAVELLER: HUGSJÁ’S EINAR SELVIK ON A TRIP THROUGH NORSE HISTORY.
 ??  ??
 ??  ?? LADY IN RED: ZOLA JESUS BEWITCHES THE AUDIENCE.
LADY IN RED: ZOLA JESUS BEWITCHES THE AUDIENCE.
 ??  ?? MOTORPSYCH­O’S HANS MAGNUS ‘SNAH’ RYAN.
MOTORPSYCH­O’S HANS MAGNUS ‘SNAH’ RYAN.
 ??  ?? GODSPEED YOU! BLACK
THE EMPEROR: ENTRANCING AUDIENCE WITH TWO SETS.
GODSPEED YOU! BLACK THE EMPEROR: ENTRANCING AUDIENCE WITH TWO SETS.
 ??  ?? CAN DO: DAMO SUZUKI GOES
IMPROV.
CAN DO: DAMO SUZUKI GOES IMPROV.

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