Reykjavík Grapevine - 06.05.2016, Síða 39

Icelandic electro-pop quintet
Sykur are a thrilling live experi-
ence. From a foundation of throb-
bing bass, sparkling synth octaves
and diamond-cut pop melodies,
they whip up a celebratory feeling
that can tip a nodding, swaying
audience into a full-on freakout.
At the centre of the storm is Agnes
Björt, a preternaturally talented
vocalist who flips between growl-
ing, roaring, crooning, bellowing
and rapping whilst prowling the
stage in sky-high glittering heels,
waist-length hair extensions and
dramatic makeup. She incites and
invades the crowd, whipping up
their energy to breaking point—
and she makes it look easy.
A case in point was their head-
line performance at Aldrei for ég
suður, the much-loved end-of-
winter festival in Ísafjörður, which
ended with the stage full of raptur-
ous, dancing, grinning festival-go-
ers. “I think it’s the most fun festi-
val I’ve ever been to,” says Kristjan
Eldjarn, one of the band’s musical
mainstays. “We asked people to
come up on stage—a legendary
Icelandic punk drummer from the
80s came up on stage and started
playing, with his shoes in his pock-
ets, and GKR was up there, and lots
of other people. It was a perfect
ending to the festival."
Looking for
energy
Agnes is humble about her onstage
talents. “It’s just about being there
for the crowd,” she says. “Our best
gigs are when people come to have
fun, and not to judge. And as well
as going to the crowd to look for
energy, I can also go to the band,
to Kristjan and the boys. Some-
times I don’t even have to look at
them, I can just feed them groov-
ing behind me and it lifts me up.”
Kristjan smiles at this, adding: “I
have to say, from my perspective, I
think she was born to be on stage.”
All of this has led to a well-de-
served live reputation that’s taken
Sykur to different parts of the
world for some memorable shows,
big and small. “We played in the
middle of a mountain in Norway,
in Bergen,” says Kristjan. “It was
in an old bomb shelter. They’d hol-
lowed out a small mountain, and
you had to walk in through a very
long corridor, with natural stone,
to a huge, raw space in the middle.
That was a crazy gig.”
Banging and
screaming
Agnes’s most memorable show
was special for different reasons.
“We were playing in this really
tiny bar in Milton Keynes, and like,
four people came,” she recalls, “but
those four went completely crazy.
They were banging on the walls
and screaming! It was great.”
The band are now slowly and
steadily preparing new material,
which they’ll be trying out live this
year in their current four-piece
stage incarnation. “We’ve been
writing a lot,” says Kristjan. “We
have maybe two and half records
of new songs. We’ve been record-
ing them, slowly, and playing them
out live with guitars and digital
percussion, to add more energy
to the live show. We’re making
the video for new single now—it’s
a very summery song. It’s an an-
them!”
LISTEN AND SHARE: gpv.is/sykur
Fun Experts
Gimme Some Sykur
“We were playing in this really tiny bar in
Milton Keynes, and four people came. They
went completely crazy. They were banging
on the walls and screaming!”
By JOHN ROGERS Photos by ART BICNICK
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