Fever Ray / Arlo Parks / HVOB / Salamirecorder & The Hi-Fi Phonos

Pop at the cathedral! The second day of the Domplatz Open-Air celebrates its concert audience with a "Nordic-folkloristic enchanted sound world full of black magic, cool sparkling beauty" (Spiegel): "Sophisticated and radical" (FM4) Fever Ray casts a spell over St. Pölten! Arlo Parks is regarded as a pop sensation and is celebrated by Der Spiegel as the "emotional chronicler of Generation Z". It's no coincidence that the Obamas and Billie Eilish are already fans of the multi-award-winning British high-flyer. The globally acclaimed electro duo HVOB, "Austria's most important pop music export" (Profil), transforms the Domplatz into a huge dancefloor. The St. Pölten combo Salamirecorder & The Hi-Fi Phonos will also ensure the best atmosphere. Vintage-style do-it-yourself garage punk meets trash-mixtape power pop: weird, loud & rock'n'roll noise.

No compromises - that could be the motto of Fever Ray, the alter ego of Karin Dreijer. Having grown up musically together with her brother Olof as the Swedish electro duo The Knife, Dreijer reinvented herself in 2009 and Fever Ray was born: a gender-fluid being who, with her mask and vocal transformer, visually refuses to be categorized. With atmospheric electropop and a voice that oscillates between deep huskiness and radiant clarity, Dreijer creates a magnetic pull and celebrates worldwide success with songs such as When I Grow Up or If I Had A Heart. Last seen in Austria in 2018, Fever Ray now brings the ghostly, intense sound of the new album Radical Romantics to St. Pölten: In songs that are as darkly driven as they are danceable, Dreijer deals here openly and vulnerably, but also angrily and full of wit, with the nature of love, beyond social convention and uniformity. "There can`t be many more significant 21st century artists than Karin Dreijer, AKA Fever Ray." The Guardian euphorically celebrates the album.

Love, belonging and social norms are also central themes in the songs of British singer Arlo Parks. The celebrated newcomer's debut album Collapsed in Sunbeams was immediately awarded a Grammy in 2022 and Arlo Parks became the voice of her generation. In songs like Hope, she sings intimately and authentically about grief, queer love and mental illness, regardless of taboos. Her second album, My Soft Machine, was released in 2023: melancholy and dreamy, highly melodic and much poppier than before, the 23-year-old sings with enormous power about desires and hurts, about falling in love and opening up again after disappointments. In catchy songs like Weightless, she sings empathetically about the pitfalls of relationships and enriches her singer-songwriter roots with indie rock, electro sounds and dance elements that bring out the full range of her headstrong voice.

"The organic HVOB techno sound with pop appeal, which works equally well for music nerds and party people, has long been praised globally - at the legendary Californian Burning Man Festival as well as at Japan's Fuji Rock, in Hong Kong, Seoul and Barcelona." (Profil) Anna Müller and Paul Wallner, the two masterminds behind HVOB, compose the duo's unique sound and also provide the captivating, hypnotic vocals. A "total musical work of art" to kick off a rousing evening full of musical flights of fancy.

The Domplatz concerts are a cooperation between Tangente St. Pölten, Festival für Gegenwartskultur and Festspielhaus St. Pölten.