GIVEN + MATOYA

Alright, after a good start after the summer last week, it’s time we go a little harder at UP: two bands with their names written in ALL CAPS are on stage tonight: GIVEN and MATOYA. And those capital letters are about as hard as we’ll go tonight. GIVEN consists of two cellists (the Lithuanian Galya Sky, who also occasionally sings, and the Mexican Rankka) playing hushed neoclassical pop music that sometimes gets heavy out of the blue. In their nocturnal, lullaby-like version of Coldplay’s “Magic” you can almost hear the slowcore of Low and Movietone. On the other hand, the instrumental “Sufflet” is based around a heavy and droning metal riff, which due to the lack of overdriven guitars almost sounds like the soundtrack of a chase in a historical movie.

While MATOYA and GIVEN might seem different, the two fit together smoothly on one line-up. MATOYA is the band around singer Lima Osta, performing jazzy neo-soul that sounds extra dramatic because of the Russian vocals of Osta (born in Belarus and – it’s true – former participant in X-factor over there). Currently, the band is based in the Netherlands, which offers us a great opportunity to bring them to Simplon!

The evening’s DJ is the eclectic Tarnim, who created a show with Egyptian pop and disco for Relate Radio and played a set with West Asian electronica on Blikopener. No idea what we’ll hear tonight – come and experience it for yourself!