Seabear

Horseshoe Tavern
Cost: 12.00
Hand Stamp: Some sort of blurry shield with a commemorative date.
March 31, 2010

Move over Björk Guðmundsdóttir and Jón “Jónsi” Þór Birgisson of Sigur Rós, and make way for new Icelandic indie music darlings, Sindri Már Sigfússon and his six other band mates (with even more international characters in their names) that are Seabear!
The musically historic Horseshoe Tavern with all its rustic charm complete with old Bye Bye Birdie vintage Broadway billboard type panels above the stage was the perfect venue for the band, since it was small enough to feel intimate, yet large enough to accommodate the rather impressive turn out. Although, it was unfortunate that the band awaited their performance in a small room across from the ladies washroom, yet the band seemed content regardless. After setting up their own equipment, the band began their set with lead singer Már Sigfússon introducing the band, and explaining that this was their first time in Canada and, “You have great Jamaican food here.” Walking past, The Real Jerk around the corner from the Horseshoe on Queen, I couldn’t help but wonder if this was where the band had eaten this great Jamaican food. Már Sigfússon, straight-faced announcing the song title before each song, and sometimes reiterating the title again afterwards was a bit different, but the simplicity was nice. In addition to being a musician, Már Sigfússon is also an artist which could be seen in his his t-shirt with almost hand-drawn geometric shapes and animals along with his tattoos that went beyond the average stereotypical tattoo.

The band had some troubles getting their sound levels right as Már Sigfússon asked for adjustments throughout the night, and their guitar player was having difficulties playing since the lighting was so dim. At one point he even struggled with his English to try to help another band member asking, “Can we get some more light on this (something in Icelandic) motherfucker over here on the guitar,” which resulted in some likely unintended laughter from the audience. While it is primarily Már Sigfússon who sings in English, he seems to be more fluent than the rest of the band, but surely the more they tour North America, the more English they will pick up. On violin, backing vocals and a multitude of other instruments including the harmonica, Gudbjörg Hlin Gudmundsdottir was really amazing and provided the backbone of every song.

While their music is more on the mellow side, it was great to see them perform live and actually see all the musical layers: the vocals, horns, keys, guitar and percussion that go into the creation of each dream-like song.