Viking Moses: Modern day nomad

This Friday sees Viking Moses, the quintessential modern day nomad, grace Liverpool with a last minute addition to his touring schedule…

Start your day with Crosses, the debut album from Viking Moses, and the rest of it is likely to be spent in a rarefied state of elevated well-being. Each track has a hymnal quality and the record as a whole is a testament to ‘Emma’, a woman holding very particular meaning and resonance to Moses.

“Crosses is my story of our joining, my bowed head to the power that brought us together this brief moment in our lives, for the love we learned, and for the challenge to part ways and move on”, says the man himself. To the listener, it is a thing of beauty, imbued with a resonance to which we can all relate.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with the singer songwriter of very odd nomenclature, Viking Moses is a band, a man, a myth and a legend in his own lifetime (he’s reputedly been on tour since 1993). To his friends, he’s Brendon Massei, and he insists that Viking Moses is “more of a title, or position” than band name, one awarded him by friend Spencer Kingman.

However we choose to refer to him though, Viking Moses has been an artist drowning in critical acclaim since Crosses earned rave reviews on its release in 2006. Writing in the Guardian, Alan McGee (who signed VM to his Poptones label) said: “[Viking Moses] is the most uniquely talented musician since Kurt Cobain… an absolute genius, and one of the best musicians I have ever released.” Don’t hold back, Alan.

Since then, two more LPs have followed, three years each apart: 09’s The Parts that Showed and in May this year, The Conquest Night. Also out in May this year was the tribute album, Lucky Numbers: A Tribute to Viking Moses. Remarkable in itself given the guy is very much alive, recording and performing; more remarkable still are the contributing artists: Malcolm Middleton, and long time VM champion, Devendra Banhart amongst them.

This kind of demi-deification isn’t a one-off or unusual, and it isn’t the first time he has fallen under the scrutiny of people who seek to know him better. Last year’s Werewolves Across America, “a portrait of modern youth culture”, follows the nomadic Moses through the world of the US DIY music scene, of which he is at the forefront. “If the DIY house show circuit has a pied piper, his name is Brendon Massei” wrote MTV.

It is this nomadic spirit (and a few hasty, last minute arrangements) which has delivered him onto our doorstep this Friday, specifically to Sound Food and Drink. However, or why-ever he pitched up here (well done everyone – you know who you are), make the most of him, he’ll be off somewhere else before you know it.

Viking Moses Friday 2nd November 8pm @ Sound Food and Drink FREE