Teitur – May 2008

This past week, I had the opportunity to travel out to the East Coast to attend some shows by one of my favorite singers, Teitur. My good friend, Sara, was my trusty companion for the trip which started in Wilmington, DE, then moved on to Philadelphia and NYC.

The first opener for the shows was Helgi Hrafn Jonsson, a singer from Iceland who is also part of Teitur’s touring band. Helgi brings to mind Thom Yorke with a hint of Damien Rice. He has an awkward, almost childlike charm and a beautiful voice.

The next opener was a cool band sorta from the Wilmington area, Old Springs Pike. They were as cute as can be, and fun as all hell. They play footstomp, punky folk, bluegrass tinged music. They made me want to get up and dance, and that’s always a good thing. I have crushes on every one of them. I think you’ll be hearing from these guys down the road, make yourself a note that Dianne told you so.

And, of course the highlight of each night… the Mighty Teitur (see the liner notes of his new cd, The Singer, if it seems I’m being cheeky.)

The shows opened with the haunting tune “Guilt By Association.” If you’ve never seen an artist play his guitar with a bow, you are really missing out. The setlists varied a bit from town to town, but some of the highlights for me were the romping “Catherine the Waitress” and the horn driven “The Girl I Don’t Know” both from the new album. The shows were based mostly on the new tunes, but with some sprinkles of songs from both Poetry and Aeroplanes and Stay Under the Stars. Teitur also played a song from his Faroese language release Káta Hornið at each show.

Backing Teitur was a fantastic band composed of musicians from around the world: Derek Murphy (Atlanta, GA – drums), Mikael Blak (Faroe Islands – bass), Helgi Jónsson (Iceland – guitar, trombone, voice, etc.), Unnur Jónsdóttir (Iceland – cello, clarinet, xylophone, voice), Anna Emilsson (Sweden – saxophone, keyboards, voice).

More photos:

Full flickr set here.