Click here to listen to the interview:

 

It’s a long way from the Faroe Islands to the Hope and Anchor. One of London’s seminal venues, its 70s pub rock and punk pedigree is legendary. The list of bands who have played there is endless .. Madness, U2, The Damned, XTC, The Stranglers, Spandau Ballet … it’s pretty much the smallest venue with the smallest stage I can think of still hosting regular shows. If you get 50 people in there, they’re shoulder to shoulder.

Not that this particularly bothered the laid back members of Gestir as we sat upstairs enjoying the excellent but short English summer and reasonably cold English beer. Thorfinn, Jens, Oliver and Andreas were here playing the third of three London gigs in a week, and were thoroughly enjoying themselves in the process.

I found out about Gestir about a year ago – of all places – on a West Ham United fans music forum.  To the lazy and uninitiated it would be easy to compare them to Iceland’s Sigur Ros, as they both create beautiful landscapes of sound and soft vocal harmonies. But there is more than a bit of Radiohead involved and I am sure I can detect a bit of early 90s shoegaze too, although no one else in the small but appreciative crowd would admit it (possibly because they’re too young to remember …)

The band played a shortish set of six songs, including two new compositions in English, It’s Over and Crashing. A new album is planned and will feature more songs in English rather than their native Faroese.

Recommended listening: Gestir’s one album to date, Burtur Frá Toftunum, with the stand out tracks being Sum Urt, Mitt Í Verðini and Dogg. You can see them at www.myspace.com/gestir.