CMU Approved

Approved: Efterklang – The Last Concert film

By | Published on Thursday 20 November 2014

Efterklang

Having seen Efterklang’s live show develop over the best part of a decade, in recent years they seemed to have hit upon a good thing. Touring the world and hooking up with orchestras in each city certainly carved them out a niche, and allowed them to play decent-sized concert venues to a procession of enraptured audiences.

A good thing it was, but the last time I saw them it also occurred to me that the basic premise of the show hadn’t developed in a while. What they were doing seemed to have found its natural level and had stopped there. Which wasn’t a bad thing, necessarily. Certainly I never saw them play a bad show, or look like they were anything less than overjoyed to be doing it.

Which probably made the decision to stop doing all that all the more difficult. But earlier this year the band announced that it was “time to reflect and time to move forward … to fundamentally change what it means to be Efterklang and how we operate, create and perform”.

And so, on 28 Feb this year, the last performance by Efterklang as they were took place at the Alsion concert hall in Sønderborg, Denmark. Performing with the South Denmark Philharmonic and South Denmark Girls Choir, along with various other guests, they ran through a set featuring songs from across their back catalogue, as well as others that had never been released.

The performance was captured on film in all its glory by director Vincent Moon (who also directed 2011 Efterklang documentary ‘An Island’), wandering amongst the performers with a single camera as they performed, making it a concert film seen from the band’s perspective rather than the audience’s.

You can watch the film in full below, and listen to the complete unedited audio of the performance here. And while you’re at it, you can hear the first steps of the new Efterklang too.The audio from the first show by new band Liima – a collaboration between Efterklang and percussionist Tatu Rönkkö is here.



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