Around this time last year NMR posted a number of live or recorded streamed shows which sprang up rapidly to fill the void left by cancelled in-person events. There doesn’t seem to be quite so many of them these days as most countries are preparing for a return of in-person shows later in the year and some Nordic countries are hosting them now but they do still crop up.
This one is from Music Europe Day, which is held on May 9th each year and which is part of Europe Day, which I didn’t know even existed.
The artist is Denmark’s Lydmor, who has figured several times in NMR during the last year, most recently for her album ‘Capacity’ (March) which I gave a rating of 9/10.
I was drawn particularly to it not only because I like and respect Lydmor as an artist but because this three-song show, all of them from ‘Capacity’, took me back to Iceland Airwaves in November 2019 and two shows Lydmor performed on the same evening having just arrived late from Copenhagen on a weather-delayed flight.
The first was at the Reykjavik Nordic House, a posh wine and prawn sandwiches affair amongst politicians, assorted dignitaries from the music business... and me (don’t ask how I got in)! She played three songs, sat in a black evening dress she’d just changed into, all of them delicate ballads performed without a mic at a black grand piano, and managed to reduce some of the women I was stood with, a delegation from the U.S., to tears. I’m pretty sure that ‘Emma Spins’, the last song here, was one of them.
Two hours later she was back, in a downtown bar/venue, Hresso and this time in her aggressive electro-pop persona. She could have been a completely different artist altogether, in her luminous body paint and surrounded by flashing neon bulbs and strobes. The set was simply awesome, a word I very rarely use; possibly the most energised I’ve seen from a solo performer, ever. And she was every bit as innovative as Madonna ever was when she first started out.
Between the two sets I knew I had seen one of the, if not the, most accomplished solo artists in Europe. So enjoy this set, on a boat or barge moored in Copenhagen against the grey, uninspiring backdrop we’ve come to know if not love from endless exposure on the likes of The Killing, The Bridge and The Investigation.
Songs:
1. Amanda’s Lullaby
2. Someone we used to love (extended version)
3. Emma Spins
Find her on Facebook.