Árstíðir

Colours of Ostrava

We’ve been announced to play at the festival Colours of Ostrava – the biggest international music festival in the Czech Republic and one of the biggest music events in the Central Europe.

Come July, we’ll be rubbing shoulders with Björk, Alanis Morissette, Antony & The Johnsons and The Flaming Lips to name a few.

The news about our participation stirred considerable attention on the festival’s Facebook page when it was announced this morning. And we’ve already learned of russian fans who are planning to re-schedule their vacation plans, so that they can catch us at the festival.

Last year we did a ten day tour in the Czech Republic. We appeared on National TV, and performed a full concert live on Radio Ostrava. We traveled all over the country and got the chance to play our music to some amazing people. We’re are very happy and excited to return!

A spontaneous collaboration

In one memorable moment during our concert in Telc yesterday, a lone dancer delivered an inspiring contemporary ballet performance in the back during Til Hennar, unbeknownst to most of the audience. Luckily, Masha, our manager, managed to capture a few images of this unknown artist.

Getting warmed up

Today we jumped into the tour bus and traversed the winding roads of lush Bohemia, passing through medieval villages, castles, and woodlands that would excite any Tolkien fan.

After arriving in Telc, we played two gigs during the night at the Prazdiny v Telci festival. This historic city is UNESCO protected, and the town square at the center of the festival is so breathtakingly beautiful and ancient, it makes Bruges look like Legoland.

The first performance took place in the courtyard of the city castle, where hundreds of people had gathered for the show. At the end of the set, as a church bell tower chimed eight o’clock, we picked up the notes and sang one final a cappella song in the same key.

 

The second gig took place in a vault deep down in a dungeon-like pub. Its arched roof seemed to evoke the famous Cavern in Liverpool famous for its early Beatles concerts. The band is really starting to warm up on the tour and we played the best gig of the trip so far, premiering a new version of Shades, where we made greater use of electronic instruments than in any of our established oeuvre.

The night ended with a rollicking afterparty, where we faced off against the locals in a game of pick-up floor hockey down in the dungeon pub. It was already dawn when we finally trudged back to our UNESCO-protected hotel rooms – probably the best sleeping arrangement in our career so far.