KEXP at Iceland Airwaves, Day 3: Low Roar

Next on KEXP's Iceland Airwaves broadcast live from Kex Hostel was Icelandic band Low Roar. Low Roar is the brainchild of American Ryan Karazija, who moved to Reykjavik from Oakland, CA in 2010. To combat the loneliness of moving to a strange new place, he recorded his self-titled debut on his laptop in his kitchen, and it was subsequently released by Tonequake records. His second album 0 was released last year to much acclaim. He has since been on several international tours. He jokes with self-effacing charm about Iceland’s influence on him in his bio on his label’s website “Low Roar is Ryan Karazija.  Ryan Karazija is Low Roar.  Ryan moved to Iceland, the winter was dark, and this is what happened!” and on the Iceland Airwaves website: “Moved to Reykjavík, made a record...and then, released another!”

The house was packed again for what promised to be a fantastic performance. They came in with "I'll Keep Coming," a song with an atmospheric Radiohead-esque sound that carried over throughout the set. Forgoing breaks, they sequenced their songs together seamlessly, with Ryan's long, soaring singing filling the room. The set moved effortlessly between sparse, lamenting acoustic guitar, which really highlighted his empyrean voice, to more dense, post-rock inspired textured noise. Low roar ended their performance with "Vampire on my Fridge," a song that, while maintaining its beauty, is comprised mostly of heavy distortion and crashing machine-like sounds Their set was incredibly polished, and a real pleasure to watch. What a great way to start the evening!