ROADBURN FESTIVAL
VENUE 013 POPPODIUM AND VARIOUS VENUES, TILBURG
DATE 11-14/04/19
Prog’s annual pilgrimage to Tilburg fits in mind-boggling music from folk to psych to the outer limits of the avant-garde, as well as art exhibitions, interviews and panels. Just don’t mention Saturday’s freak snowfall…
Myrkur’s ‘Folkesange’ performance dispenses with her metal side and focuses fully on the folk. She performs a mix of trad folk covers and her own songs alongside musicians including cellist Jo Quail, and the result is gorgeously ethereal and intimate. When the band tune their instruments everyone is dead silent – there are few audiences as respectful as Roadburn’s.
Emma Ruth Rundle plays today in the warehouse-like Kopenhal, where, nearby, fans can see an exhibition of her paintings inspired by her album On Dark Horses. Playing with a full band gives an added heaviness to her heart-wrenching anthems, but a little of the intimate intensity that she’s known for is lost in this airy venue; it may have worked better on the mainstage.
There’s a reason why it’s said there are no ‘headliners’ at Roadburn. Even though Triptykon
are performing their
“ANNA VON HAUSSWOLFF’S VOICE ELEVATES HER TO A SUPERNATURAL LEVEL OF TALENT.”
much-anticipated Requiem set with an orchestra over in the main venue, there is still a queue for Danish quintet Mythic Sunship in Het Patronaat. An explorative meld of jazzy fusion (complete with sax) and psych that cascades from thick and heavy to fresh and blusey, they’re one of Prog’s highlights.
Anna von Hausswolff’s eerie and hypnotising psychedelic dark pop brought to life is an all-encompassing experience. Whether she’s centre-stage behind the organ, stalking the stage clutching a guitar, punching a drum or wielding a harmonica, it’s her voice, a feral force that swoops from softly beautiful, ghostly chants to Diamanda Galás levels of nightmarish captivation, that elevates her to a supernatural level of talent.
In 2018, Cave In’s Caleb Scofield passed away tragically in a car accident. Last year at Roadburn the rest of the band played an acoustic show in his memory, and recently announced that they will release a new album featuring Caleb’s final recordings. Though they don’t address the situation outwardly today, their set is a subtle and affecting journey through grief and loss, particularly with the expansive and emotive build of new song
Shake My Blood.
From Björk to black metal, Iceland has always been on the map for music, but not so much for classic prog. Lucy In Blue may be young enough to be the original prog generations’ grandchildren, but as they celebrate the release of their new album In Flight they transport us straight back to the 70s through a blissful wormhole of expansive psych, providing the perfect slow sink back to earth before Prog has to catch our flight back to London.