Romantic Seasonal Indie Folk

Árstíðir

„A Special Holiday Tour 2022 – Vetrarsól“ presented by Doomstar Bookings, Arena Wien – Kleine Halle, Austria 20221211

As the night comes in the early afternoon and the hexagonal white flakes fall to the ground, an Icelandic outfit finally returns after several tries, to celebrate this special time of the year.

During the last years, Árstíðir celebrated their annual ‚Vetrarsól‘ online via stream what they’ll repeat again. But finally, they can continue this concert series they started in 2008 already live again as well. And so they have prepared two sets for this particular night.

At first, they play some of their favorite songs like „Passion“ is the favorite of one visitor, as she yells. „Shine“ they dedicate to a deceased friend, and looking for a metaphor, it tells about traveling to Mars without the possibility to return. Then they add another song spontaneously as they remember playing it the last time in Vienna, before the amazing „While This Way“.

The two friends and touring musicians from France on violin and cello start the second set with „Heyr himna“. Árstíðir then take their time to explain about their tradition of singing (for example to thank hosts on riding tours across the country), as they perform a cappella. Their theory about the reason for the importance is the lack of trees to build instruments, they joke.

And because they are far away north, they didn’t learn about music theory and love to use the harmony of fifths. This creates the wonderful dark mystic atmosphere in melodies, even though the lyrics are happy. After several well-chosen Christmas songs from e.g. Sweden as well, they close by singing „Stille Nacht“ together with the audience.

Coming back for encore, the friendly band tells they like two words the most: „Zugabe“ and „ausverkauft“. After their latest single „Bringing Back the Feel“, they ultimately end with „And So It Goes“ of Billy Joel. This romantic evening proofs, that Árstíðir are among the most exciting bands next to Sólstafir, Skálmöld and Sigur Rós, that Iceland currently has to offer.