Part of the Iceage frontman’s magnetism – and we’ve confirmed this several times live – has to do with an explosive combination of confidence and benign arrogance that exudes from his person. Part of this is what drew us to Iceage in the beginning and to their various transformations over the following decade, as if this personal affirmation from their vocalist contaminated and made us believe wholeheartedly in what they were, or wanted to be. That’s also why, when we read that Elias presents himself as a musician and poet, we’re not surprised. It’s not to convince us, there’s a grain of truth to it. Even if it’s poetry via pose. Now, after thirty years, he has released his first solo album. It’s ‘Heavy Glory’, which he brings to Lisbon in February.

What we find as a solo artist is yet another tangent in his personality, willing to go to any lengths to convey an idea, Rønnenfelt presents love and the alcoholic apocalypse via Americana and a diversion into country, more methodical than mimed. The songs on ‘Heavy Glory’ are not as doubtful as we sometimes find in this musical script, but they are full of determination and evoke certainty with eloquence, as if the rebel, the frontman of Iceage, wanted to grow up but he himself wouldn’t let him. He is a man trapped in his own self-satisfaction and that is what he contemplates and is contemplated in the way he transforms songs like ‘Close’, ‘Stalker’ or ‘No Place To Fall’. While others become embittered in this prison, Elias Rønnenfelt is out of it, reinforcing the presence of his person in every verse, in a mixture of hedonism and self-preservation, while singing, as he always has, with the brutal narcissism that has enchanted one (well, more than one) generation. While many musicians sing to survive, Elias Rønnenfelt writes, sings and composes to preserve his unique vision of himself. In a time of exalted individualism and pocket narcissism, you have to think someone who does it so well in the classic way is beautiful. Without beating around the bush, he is exactly what he sets out to be, Elias Rønnenfelt is a man looking in the mirror. AS

Drummer and composer who began practising the instrument in connection with free jazz and improvised music and quickly demonstrated the complexity of his artistic mind – in his case, you can’t just talk about the technique and interpretation of the instrument. His path is much broader, which is also revealed in his discs Volúpias and Hair of the Dog. Ferrandini moved from an energetic way of playing, with very precise technical movements, to, in Volúpias, expressing a more melodic atmosphere, with a certain amount of poetry and romanticism, something that Hair of the Dog contrasted with, with an existential, reflective and cerebral tone, mentally denser, and where acoustics are obsessively analysed, perhaps under the influence of mentors such as Stockhausen. Ferrandini is a member of the Rodrigo Amado Motion Trio and the Red Trio; he has collaborated with names such as Alexandre Estrela, Alexander von Schlippenbach, Coro Gulbenkian, Evan Parker, Peter Evans, Hilary Woods, RP Boo, Thurston Moore, among others. More recently, he has collaborated with director and playwright Tiago Rodrigues on shows in various countries.