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As the sun starts to hide itself earlier each evening as winter draws in, it seems fitting that the Queen of Hoxton played host to three acts who hail from the cold lands of the north on a chilly week night. Following in the footsteps of other electronic artists from Scandinavia who have reached the shores of the UK, People of K and Faye from Sweden and Frost from Norway came to give a trendy east London crowd some new talent and electronic sounds to enjoy.
Sadly arriving too late to catch People of K, the first act of the evening we enjoyed was Faye, a singer of a former teen pop band now striking out with new works. The influence of touring alongside Destiny's Child is quite apparent in her singing style, with Faye Hamlin presenting a strong and emotive vocal performance that wouldn't seem out of place on US chart hit single that take centre stage at all times in the music. Musically, theirs is a polished, well produced electronic pop sound that is ably reproduced live by her two male band mates and their set was a nice demonstration of the variety in their styles, employing slow and bouncy bass lines on one track and moving on to a more upbeat, RnB-inspired rhythm with lingering synthesisers and pianos thrown in on the next. In summary: a slick pop performance that met the expectations of the crowd nicely.
Consisting of the long time partnership of Aggie Peterson and Per Martinsen, Frost also brought considerable experience and equipment to the fore for their set, but together with a sense of playfulness to their performance. Imploring the assembled crowd to step closer to the band, Aggie strikes an imposing figure both with and without her glittery mask props and matches this with great vocals and movements on stage. Her singing has a nice edginess to it and she is unafraid to employ vocoder effects to warp her voice as well. This is something I haven't seen a lot of in a live show and by using it sparingly breaks up her performance and keeps things interesting.
Rather than hide behind their gear, Frost have a nice patter going on that is great to watch and it's clear from the way they interact with each other and their instruments during the songs that they are enjoying themselves on stage. The darkened basement venue suited their style well, with moody, slow tracks with bright synthesisers being counterpointed by lovely bass-heavy dance numbers and catchy, almost disco-themed tracks; all of which benefited nicely from the live tweaks the band add on the fly. Aggie's high pitched vocals create a nice, cool vibe permeating through Per's beats and bass and it's easy to imagine Frost playing in a snowy field or a darkened wood of their homeland. Despite the fire alarms cutting in half way through (although this was not enough to stop them mid song), Frost are a really great set to watch as well as hear.
With these strong performances, Frost and Faye present a different and enjoyable spin on electronic music and prove that there's plenty of great new music coming from Scandinavia.
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article by: Chris Smout
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| published: 26/10/2012 10:12 |
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