Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Inge Bremnes may not seem to be a colossus, a man emulating the Gods of Norse mythology and whose stature comes with accompanying lightening strikes or with Freya’s beguiling charm but when he steps onto the stage a transformation seems to take place, the immensely likeable musician becomes something new, something exciting, and no matter how many times you have the honour of watching him the transformation from the humble to the riveting is rather thrilling and the music even more impressive.

Liverpool’s culture has always embraced the words from overseas or places of different extraction. If New York is the melting pot of the world’s disparate and flung together people the Liverpool is surely is its U.K. equivalent. It might not have the nationalities under the sun, it might not have the huge influx that makes London such a socially diverse pocket universe but Liverpool arguably takes the words and language offered in an intellectual and edifying way in what could be seen as a literary exchange of social ideals and artistic highs.

Following on from other Scandinavian trailblazers to the Mersey shore in recent years, Inge Bremnes offers much for those that enjoy the music of other lands to enrich their lives and with band contributions from Andreas Juliebø, Øystein Myrvoll, Eirik Hansen and Erlend Bredalolsen, that sense of occasion stands the test afforded it by a February audience inside Studio 2 and the man and the band rise fully to the challenge issued.

Opening with the song =, a statement perhaps as well as an allusion to the contemporary, Inge Bremnes took the evening by the scruff of the neck and showed that his other performance under the Stillhet banner of Strings and Things in 2014 was just the very start of a period in which opportunity has shaken hands with a very talented musician.

With other tracks such as Kanskje det er for mye (Maybe It’s Too Much), Stop Motion, Screaming Stronger, the desolation and desire fulfillment felt in Anechoic Chamber, the incredible Sne and the brutally enchanting Cold, being performed with great virtue and generosity of spirit, Inge Bremnes took on the role of Norse mythology and took it apart, piece by poetic piece and instead constructed, like many others who cross the North Sea to enthrall the music loving people of Merseyside, a piece of realistic Scandinavian fascination and charm.

The new year for Stllhet’s monthly musings inside Studio 2 got off to the best possible starts, Inge Bremnes and his accompanying musicians saw to that with ease.

Ian D. Hall