Nordic Giants, Alien - Colchester Arts Centre 2024 | Live Reviews

Nordic Giants and Colchester Arts Centre are, in my view, the perfect pairing of band and venue. The duo’s performances have a real visual emphasis, both in their appearance and with the live videos illuminating their set. Seeing this in the deconsecrated church of Colchester Arts Centre just works well to add to the ambience.

Tonight’s support comes from Alien, half of Masal (originally booked as support but unfortunately couldn’t perform due to the other half of the band being ill). It’s a good way to get the evening going with an electronic set utilising a good amount of samples to create some very interesting music. The mix of genres works pretty well, it feels like despite the difference in style there may well be some shared influences. It’s definitely made me want to see Masal live if it’s even slightly similar.

Nordic Giants

After a short break Nordic Giants take to the stage, the crowd moving forward in anticipation. The visuals start first before Loki and Ra walk on in costume, masks on their faces and get the music going. The piano-driven parts sound beautiful and work perfectly with the visual elements – a lot of post-rock bands are quite visual but there are few where the video elements are as locked in, where the music and video elements feel like they were created together rather than it being an afterthought.

The dynamics of the set are extraordinary, everything from quiet singular notes right up to a crushing, heavy, sound created largely by the synth and drums. The lighting is also spectacular (albeit difficult to photograph!) the strobing backlights behind the band members are effective in helping disguise the band members, with plenty of lasers poking through the smoke. The combination of all the elements makes for a stunning evening of music. Nordic Giants is a band I first discovered at festivals and was in awe of instantly, they’re a band that I think everyone, regardless of what they normally listen to, should see at least once in their life. They’re a unique band – sure, there are a lot of bands who play this style of music but there are few who do it so well, and even fewer who create such a beautiful show visually alongside it.