Samaris og Mammút

On Thursday I went to an amazing concert with two Icelandic bands, Samaris and Mammút.  I absolutely fell in love with Samaris: Take an amazing sound mixer, a kooky girl who plays the clarinet, and a girl who clearly grew up with Björk as the national heroine, and this is what you get:

The main singer is amazing - she was just a happy, perky bubble of energy, with an ethereal voice and a wafting, waif-like way of dancing.  She looked like an ice mermaid in a white outfit that was at times gauzy and fuzzy.  The clarinetist wore this clunky hour-glass dress like a shortened version of Björk's bell dress from Who Is It.  

Mammút, however, was dressed in all black.  At first I thought they were wearing turtlenecks that stopped right at the edge of the chin, a la Maleficent, but then I realized it was paint.  The drummers at one point came out in full sparkly black face masks, like the dancer in Legend (so many references!).  The main singer was a tiny woman who loped around the stage like a slightly rabid she-wolf.  It was fascinating to watch. 

 At one point all the women in the two groups got together to do a song together, and it was haunting. 

Fun fact: THE COAT CHECK WAS FREE.  Iceland is so trusting.

My next post will be about the amazing day trip that we took into the interior.  It will be full of pictures of waterfalls, ice, and offensive quotes from Jon Simon.