One of Iceland’s most successful exports will be hitting our shores in June.
Icelandic singer-songwriter and musician Ásgeir has announced his long-awaited 2023 New Zealand and Australian tour, bringing his acclaimed discography to the stage with headline dates in Auckland, Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Perth across May and June.
Ásgeir New Zealand and Australian Tour
Tuesday, 30 May – Hollywood Avondale, Auckland
Thursday, 1 June – Melbourne Recital, Melbourne
Friday, 2 June – City Recital Hall, Sydney
Saturday, 3 June – Powerhouse, Brisbane
Sunday, 4 June – Rechabite, Perth
Keep up with the latest music news, festivals, interviews and reviews here.
At only 20 years of age, Ásgeir released the fastest-selling debut album in Icelandic history – ‘Dýrð í dauðaþögn’ / ‘In The Silence’. The album was made up of 10 tracks of soul-searching folk featuring lyrics penned by his father, Einar Georg Einarsson – a retired school teacher and poet. Winner of the 2012 Album of the Year at the Icelandic Music Awards, it sold so many copies that it is estimated one-tenth of the population in Iceland owns the album.
By the time the elegiac sounds of the album’s 2014 re-release, titled In The Silence, were done rippling through the top 40 charts in the UK, France, Japan, Australia, Denmark and beyond, Asgeir’s stardom had become truly international. The re-release included lyrics translated by acclaimed musician John Grant. Sell-out shows across the world beckoned, including two sold-out headline dates at the Sydney Opera House in January 2015.
In 2017 Ásgeir returned with the daringly electronic album Afterglow, ambitiously balancing icy electronic shades of Bon Iver, James Blake and Anohni with soul, R&B and even gospel influences from different eras and places. February 2020 saw the release of Ásgeir’s third album, Bury The Moon – or ‘Sátt’, to give the record its Icelandic title, at times a bruising, achingly personal experience, with shades of endless isolation. In 2021 Ásgeir released a stripped-back and intimate EP ‘The Sky is Painted Gray Today’, marking something of a return to the artist’s deep roots.
His 2022 fourth studio album, Time On My Hands, sees Ásgeir in a state of self-reflection and experimentation, having spent much of the last few years in his home and in the studio deeply engrossed in writing, recording, translating and producing. On this album, he’s entered new realms of composition, sensitively layering acoustics with electronics and brass. As with some of his previous work, most notably 2017’s Afterglow and 2020’s Bury The Moon, Ásgeir plays with euphoric and choral elements of electronic pop music while keeping a tight grasp on the introspective, vocal-lead style of the acoustica that made him famous.
Pre-sale starts Tue 4 April at 11am (local) and General On-Sale starts Wed 5 April at 11am (local). Head here for more info.
