Live Report: Silje Nes
Silje Nes celebrated the release of her new record, Ames Room, in Ausland in Berlin on Friday. It was a nice and cosy affair, however with Nes having to cope with some of the problems most of the artists in the bedroom folk/electronic genre seem to run into when they take to the stage.
She delivered a pretty introverted performance, which was no big surprise or problem, however through the way she, and musical partner Arne, presented the music live it seemed like some of the finer nuance of her songs got lost. For me, the real greatness of her music lies in the electronic quirks and bleeps that are always bubbling and tinkling somewhere under surface of her songs, by loosing some these elements in a live setting, she also lost some the adventurousness that made Ames Room such a special record.
Her restrained and delicate music also demands a lot from the audience and unfortunately many of those present, in the almost sold-out Ausland, weren’t willing to sacrifice their own conversations for the sake of Nes’ music. Adding an extra layer of noise, that hampered the performance. Below is a pretty shitty video of Silje Nes playing the song “Giant Disguise”.
Strangely enough, somebody had decided that Silje Nes shouldn’t headline her own release party, leaving that spot for the not-so-interesting Sissy Wish. However it gave us the opportunity to leave earlier and get some Pastise down at 8mm, which was great like always. Also thanks to Shotgun Club and DJ Mr. Blowfish for putting on a great party in Lido on Saturday, it was almost as good as I imagine the 60’s were.
