9:00 pm - Wovenhand
After so many years of flawless, bewitching and heart-stopping performances, what more can we say about Wovenhand? Frontman David Eugene Edwards impressed us many a time in the AB, with his previous band 16 Horsepower. The expectations were just as high for Wovenhand and we remember the likes of an impressive visit in combination with the dance-annex-choreography of Wim Vandekeybus. In recent years Wovenhand was to be heard as the soundtrack of the één-series ‘Los Zand’. Stronger still: In our opinion, the only worthwhile flashback of this series was always the musical intro or rather the Wovenhand track ‘Winter Shaker’. Also worth mentioning: David Eugene Edwards' impressive version of the excellent Jeffrey Lee Pierce tribute ‘We Are Only Riders’ (with the likes of Nick Cave, Mark Lanegan,…). Two years on from their last album ‘Ten Stones’, we now have ‘The Threshing Floor’, their sixth album, to be released in mid-May via Glitterhouse. They worked on it with producer Robert Ferbrache, once one-time lap-steel guitarist to 16 Horsepower. Wovenhand: welcome back to AB!
7:30 pm - Ólafur Arnalds
One of the finest Icelandic discoveries of recent years is surely twenty-something Ólafur Arnalds. Aside from his role as multi-instrumentalist with My Summer As A Salvation Soldier and as ½ of the minimal techno-project Kiasmos, Arnalds writes his own epic music, complete with strings, electronica and piano. His aurally attractive debut ‘Eulogy for Evolution’ (’07) was praised by the international press and his EP ‘Variations Of Static’ (’08) was a more than worthy successor. In 2009 he wrote the musical score for the dance production ‘Dyad 1909’ by choreographer Wayne McGregor and in 2010 we expect its successor. Sigur Rós are fans (and have already taken him on tour), just like AB (having already invited Arnalds to the Feeërieën (’08)). A must for fans of Ludovico Einaudi, Max Richter and Jóhann Jóhannsson.