Tyst Ekar Arvet
Today started off as a regular day. We cuddled, made plans to eat Swedish food, showered, and went shopping. We ended up buying two nice steaks to make biff med grönpeppar sås och potatiskaka. Have I ever mentioned how much I love Swedish food? I’m glad I have my own Swedish chef with improved facial hair.
It was delicious and it got me in a very good mood, but the day ended up being even better than what we expected when we made our initial plans. A few months ago, Querido and I decided that we would attend this year’s Tredingsriten and see Grift together. Unfortunately, the tickets sold out before we got our chance, so we wouldn’t be able to join Zira and Toby on that day. Well, that changed: Toby couldn’t make it on time, so he made his ticket available to us. Since we only had one ticket, Zira called Querido and told him that he wouldn’t mind making his ticket available also. He knows that Grift has become one of our absolute favorite bands - maybe my absolute favorite, ever since I found out about it. There are many reasons as to why, but I suppose I could summarize it like this: it evokes an old and distant (a known-unknown) feeling through the combination of unexpected sounds and the right words. The mood it sets is wondrous. The beauty of the Swedish language is also a powerful contribution to that, of course. The intonation and changes in pitch please me a lot and I don’t find it harsh on the ears at all. In fact, it’s probably one of the most sweet-sounding Indo-European languages I’ve heard, and I speak a Romance language. Grift knows how to turn it into something that is in-between nostalgic and gloomy. If you think I’m biased, you’re just wrong.
I’m very thankful that Z didn’t mind us going in his place and even offered to drive us there. We had some leftover red wine and a huge cherry-flavored beer that we brought with us to chug in the car before it was time for the concerts to begin. That was a good beer! Then Querido and I went in and were guerdoned with a short acoustic set by Grift. Most people were already sitting, so we watched together by the door and exchanged the type of smiles you exchange when you find yourself in an unexpectedly delightful situation with your loved one.
After the set, we grabbed some beer and hung out outside for a while. There were thirty-minute breaks between shows, which is sort of like taking a break between tasting two wines (…to have a beer, apparently). After that, we saw Draugurinn. Considering that we were in a fest to celebrate the harvest, I think the performance fit well: it consisted of percussion with meditative/ritualistic chants, something touching on folk-ish dark ambient. It served as an appetizer for a really great surprise just after another break: Bhleg. I had listened to Bhleg a couple of times before on Spotify, but probably too mindlessly. My mistake! It was a great show! It’s very good folk-inspired black metal, both musically and lyric-wise. Their most recent album (which I’ve become a huge fan of) is inspired by the worship of Sun as a life-giver, as the conditio sine qua non for all life on earth and its sustenance. Again, very well chosen for a harvest fest. I was very happy with their performance.
During the last break, we took the chance to taste this year’s special beer (I’ll leave that review for my husband) and visit the Stenmuseet next door. We saw everything ranging from fossils to tools, old pictures and even miniatures carved out of stone. I suppose that helped set the mood for the last concert…
Grift!
To be fair, I’m not even sure what to write about seeing Grift live. First of all, when it started, it felt unreal. In a way, it still feels unreal. Both unreal and culminating. Grift’s sound is described as bleak very often and, even though I can hear why I still find an odd comfort and intimacy in it… an undissolvable marriage between tranquility and turbulence that changes its dynamic with each piercing howl or note that lands just at the right time. To me, those feelings are met with a sense of both abstraction and heritage - which may sound weird, because my heritage is thousands of kilometers apart from the heritage of someone who calls Kinnekulle their home, but Grift really does convey that perfectly to me: it brings me back to a time, place and life I haven’t lived, but can suffer from and reflect upon. It reveals that, somehow, something which I haven’t experienced myself is imprinted in me. And, by doing that, it takes me away from the now and into a both haunting and comfortable space for contemplation, and then… back to the now, with that in mind.
Seeing Grift live only amplified those sensations. I don’t think there’s anything else I need to write about it, as it must be obvious how much I loved it. The fact that I got to share it with Querido made it all even more special. It felt like a very private moment where being surrounded by dozens of people didn’t matter. I felt reinvigorated.
That’s it for today.