Tivoli: Cloud Nine – Utrecht
Monday, May 26^th, 2025

 

Monday evening isn’t your regular night out to go visit a concert, but that didn’t stop the Neo-folk and Black gaze/metal fans from heading off towards Utrecht for a unique show performed by Sylvaine and supported by Osi and the Jupiter. Touring the world isn’t uncommon for Sylvaine, which is the music project of Kathrine Shepard, but this marks her first solo tour, where she didn’t bring her band along.
Catching Osi and the Jupiter on stage is a task much harder to accomplish, especially in Europe, since they don’t cross the pond all the way from their home near the Appalachian Mountains that often; we were grateful to have been able to attend this evening.
If I could use only one word to describe this evening it’s going to be a tough decision to choose between ‘mesmerizing’ and ‘enchanting’; both fit perfectly fine.

Once everyone was seated, ‘Fjörgyn’ was set in on the cello, and Osi and the Jupiter started off. All got quiet and Kakaphonix his beautiful play, got all the attention. After this, the rest of the band entered the stage and played an enchanting, inspiring set. This included mainly newer songs, including the just released single ‘Snake Healer’, and not yet released song ‘Lurking beneath the Pines’ from the upcoming album ‘Larvatus’.  Spirits of those attending could wander off into foresty mountains during ‘Mountain Shamanism’, ‘Appalachia’ and ‘Folk of the Woods’, and before you know it, almost an hour had gone by, and the tunes of ‘Baldur’ on the cello bid us farewell. The band got thanked with a standing ovation, and in their turn expressed their gratitude for this evening towards the audience.

After a short break, Sylvaine entered the stage and started dancing and singing ‘Dagsens auga sloknar ut’. Without any instruments, back up or any stage decoration beside a decorated microphone stand, this created a pure, intimated setting and feeling. Once again, the word ‘mesmerizing’ is in place here. Her soft and gentle voice truly enchanted the audience from the start till the end. But don’t let this completely fool you. After the opening, she picked up her guitar and played some of the rougher material as ‘Fortapt’ and ‘Mørklagt’ with screams included, as well. As she explained on stage, during shows like these, she tends to ‘randomly’ grab some songs out of the big hat that is her repertoire. Today a cover of ‘Restless’ by 40 Watt Sum was put on the setlist, one of her favourite songs, and beautifully played. Also coming out of the hat were title track of the first album ‘Silent Chamber, noisy Heart’, ‘Nowhere, Still Somewhere’ and my personal favourite of the evening ‘Eg veit I Himmelrik Ei Borg’ which was supported by only the barely necessary musical tunes; goosebumps.
After many thanks to all who attended on this unusual Monday evening, a spontaneous encore ‘Everything Must Come To An End’ was gifted. Before starting, Sheperd said she never plays this song live, because it’s too emotional for her to perform, and she was visibly touched by it at the end.
It was an honour to have been able to share this moment, and attend this intimate and pure show this evening, truly one for the books.
If you have the chance to catch them on their tour, we highly recommend getting a ticket as soon as possible because you will not regret this for a single second!

Words by Ingrid, pictures by Michael