Review: Eivør at Astor Theatre
Eivør at Astor Theatre
w/ Sylvaine
Wednesday, March 25, 2026
Experimental electro-folk-rock singer Eivør and fellow Nord songstress Sylvaine were a match made in Valhalla for those yearning to forget the Perth heat and be transported to the forests and fjords of the singers’ Scandinavian homelands. While there may have been fewer sets of antlers and drinking horns at the Astor than expected, the enthusiasm for the long-awaited show was palpable as a crowd turned out early, took their seats and locked in for an evening of cinematic soundscapes and otherworldly vocals.
Norwegian black-gaze artist Sylvaine (Kathrine Shepard), who most often appears with her touring band, stepped on stage alone as she does when supporting three-time touring partner Eivør. Her polished guitar reflecting light through her ethereal visage as she swayed and played, Sylvaine delivered an introspective and stirring performance projected with such confidence that the entire audience was spellbound into statuesque silence.
Mooring the atmosphere close to her arctic homelands, Sylvaine opened and closed her set with pristine performances of traditional Norwegian folk songs. Her faultless voice, both soft and piercing, cast a spell that lasted well into the night. Mid-set, she explained that she preferred waiting until show day to choose a cover song. This time she offered a slow, soft rendition of Billie Eilish’s breakout song Ocean Eyes. She chose the song to honour a friend that Perth reminded her of and, in a disarmingly authentic gesture, altered the lyrics to ‘hazel eyes’.
While the stripped-back performance lacked the droning distortion and blast beats that give her records a post-black metal lean, her original songs still bore the hallmarks of melancholy and lamentation, delivered in a more vulnerable style. It was the perfect setup—the crowd was visibly shocked as she seamlessly transitioned into effortless banshee screams, breaking the crowd out of their stunned stillness to turn to their neighbours and exclaim or to simply lean back in bewilderment as the performance reached a new level of vocal mastery.
While the songs she performed were slow, sombre, and haunting in their beauty, the overall mood was far from heavy. Between songs Sylvaine jested with the audience with the voice and energy of a forest sprite. Her coy but friendly personality was yet another factor in holding the room’s undivided attention, which she did until the very last note that rang out long and uninterrupted. An extended cascade of applause followed her final bow, including a few well-earned standing ovations. The woman tasked with setting the stage for Eivør to “mesmerise you with her magic” blew everyone away with her own.
Sylvaine drew us into her world like a siren… and Eivør marched out as a benevolent gothic queen to claim the Astor as her newest field of conquest. With the dark pulsating synths of Jarðartrá, she and her three-piece multi-instrumental band expanded the sonic landscape in one fell swoop. In a moment that felt inspired by the Diva in The Fifth Element, Eivør mesmerised with otherworldly operatic vocals. This led seamlessly into Hugsi Bert Um Teg, a vapourwave banger that would not have been out of place in an 80’s movie soundtrack. It was clear that Eivør was about to take us on a journey traversing many parts of her personality, history, and vocal repertoire.
Jarðartrá and Hugsi Bert Um Teg are both born from Eivør’s most recent release Enn. Translating to ‘Still’, 2024’s Enn is the first to be released through predominantly metal label Seasons of Mist after ten albums released independently. While singing in several Nordic languages across her discography, Enn is sung entirely in Eivør’s native tongue of Faroese. It joins her other Faroese albums, including her self-titled debut, Eivør Pálsdóttir, released when she was just 16 years old.
Despite this long and heavily acclaimed career, Eivør only reached Australian shores in 2024 in support of immersive Viking pagan spectacle Heilung at Red Hill Auditorium—a show that would earn her many new Perth fans. Fitting perfectly with their ritual theme is ÍTokuni, a guttural cry to the ancestors that Eivør revived for her set at the Astor. The sharp, percussive snarls and throat-heavy breathwork contrasted with long, soaring high notes and vocal-flipping—typical of Faroese and Norse singing. It was a portal to an ancient world where people prayed to gods around fires and called out long and slow into echoing valleys. Every grunt, groan, and hiss was a highlight.
While her homeland of the Faroe Islands near Scotland is small in size and population, the language is strong, championed worldwide by Eivør as a literal spokeswoman. Her patriotism shone as she japed to a captivated audience, “We’re going to play some more songs now that you won’t understand,” but clarified that she hoped the audience understood what she meant. Her music indeed transcended a language barrier to transport us to a different time and place.
This was clear from audible enthusiasm when Eivør announced she would be playing songs from her lyricless collaborative soundtrack for the TV series The Last Kingdom. Centred around Viking conquests in lands that would later become England, Eivør’s wordless wailing played no small part in the show’s storytelling—establishing atmosphere and anchoring the Norse characters in their heritage while the plot takes them far from it. While the popular soundtrack didn’t form part of her formal discography, it no doubt served as an introduction to the artist and led more people to discover Faroese and Norse culture at large. Threads of Life, followed by the show’s theme song and the Faroe Islands’ oldest hymn, offered a tonal shift in the set. This served as an invitation to allow imaginations to be swept away to wide-open landscapes, cool northern climates, and long aurora-filled nights.
After the quiet reprieve, Eivør continued to wind through her genre-blending catalogue, arriving at Skyscrapers, introduced as a song about “looking for something beautiful that’s just out of reach, but you must not give up”. This was one of the few sung in English before she made the return to the more rhythmic and production-heavy songs of Enn. This included the title track and Upp Úr Øskuni, the lead single centring feminine healing, sisterhood and strength, which further showcased Eivør’s mastery of traditional Faroese vocalisations. The intensifying primal chant of “Upp Úr Øskuni!” (Rise from the Ashes) was a powerful connection to a pagan past and an ode to the defiance and endurance of the human spirit.
However, it was when she picked up her flat, moon-like, shamanic frame drum and mallet to beat out the intro to Trøllabundin that she held the crowd at the height of anticipation, who whistled and cheered at their chance to dive deeper into the Viking ages. In this fan favourite, Eivør put her ancestral vocal flipping (almost a yodel) on full display. She grunted and gasped with rhythmic precision and even pulled out a few clicks and pops in her telling of being ‘trollbound’. She clearly delighted in the effect the song had, even waving her mallet to encourage the audience to let go of the risk of embarrassment to sing along in ritual catharsis.
The finale was a version of Falling Free, a song from the more post-metal side of her catalogue, but minus the droning guitar she was forced to cast aside due to technical difficulties. It still provided a dramatic and satisfying conclusion to a beautifully curated selection of works. The songstress was characteristically self-assured—projecting a sorrowful ballad while also fully embracing freedom from her guitar by dancing and prancing her way through the final number in an endearing spectacle of self-expression.
As the song and show came to a crescendo, Eivør used her final moments on stage to connect with her enamoured audience. She leant over the edge to beam smiles of deep joy and gratitude at each member of the crowd—a gesture that was returned in kind. She’d lead the crowd on a journey to dance with ancient dark spirits and fly to fresh, snowy mountaintops and everything in between. She’d taken the crowd under her wing, shown her ways of life, and left the audience feeling worthy of feasting at her table in the afterlife.
After this final stop of her inaugural Australian headliner, Eivør continues on the remainder of her world tour and intends to work on a new album. Being newly signed to heavy label Nuclear Blast, this may mean a darker, more metal sound, but with an artist as diverse as Eivør, you can never know what to expect.
JACINDA GARDNER
Photos by Jeff Smith
