Its been over four years since I saw Mugison on stage or at my last Iceland Airwaves festival back in 2004. Back then Mugison (Orn Elias Guthmundsson) was a one man band armed with his guitar & lap top and 1001 ways to construct a live show using endless amounts of loops.
A lot has changed over these four years. As I walked into Vega in Copenhagen I witnessed it was loaded with Icelanders waiting to see Mugison since his show in November had been cancelled. No longer is he onstage by himself, now he is accompanied by some of Icelands best musicians, on guitar Petur Ben , Addi on drums and Gudni on bass both from Ensimi and Dr Spock to name a few and the latest editions David from Flis and Hjalmar on keyboards.
Not only has the amount of band members changed but so has the music, from being more electronic like on his first album Lonely Mountain to the ful-on bluesy rock and roll sound of his latest offspring Mugiboogie, transforming the song “Murr Murr” into something that would fit right into a ZZ Top show. Song after song just packed with great guitar riffs some hard hitting drums and, as an extra treat, Gudni the bass player got to do a few numbers of his new album between songs which worked just great since none of the songs are more then a minute in length.
With the band rocking out on the last song and Addi going berserk on the drums, it reminded me of the time when a 2×4 had to be nailed in front of his bass drum to keep it from getting away from him. Truly, it was a great way to end another cold Saturday night in the Danish capital.
Be sure to check out the festival Aldrei For Eg Sudur that Mugi and his dad Papa Mug put on in their hometown of Isafjordur located in the west of Iceland during Easter, attracting not only Icelandic acts but like last year even featuring Blonde Redhead on the bill.
Brooks Institute of Photography
