AqPop at the Cavern Club as part of the 2014 International Pop Overthrow. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7 ^1/2/10

Liverpool is more than used to the music venues of Liverpool filling the local ears with contented understanding of its Norwegian artists who have made the city their home. It is one of the many strengths of the city that it embraces, not only the huge links between its Viking heritage and Scouse, but the immense influx of well-written and totally eclectic and narrative songs.

The marriage between this heritage and the International Pop Overthrow at the Cavern Club is well established also and in AqPop, the rich legacy given freely and accepted just as easily on both sides, continues.

Sitting in the Cavern Club is something to be always relished, many a band has come from abroad or even just down the East Lancs. Road to perform there and the early evening crowd were not to be disappointed by the appearance of Thor Jørgen Holm, Thomas Ingdal and Andreas Knudsen and the wonderfully uncompromising sound they supplied. With songs such as Will U, the fantastic Screen, Fight, Confused and Relate all making their mark on those taking in the view in the back stage of The Cavern, AqPop would surely be welcome back to show their musical outpouring once more.

AqPop finished their set with the track Syranid, a fusion of the untamed raw psychedelic with certain nods to the heavier end of the Progressive rock sound that few can truly master unless they have been around longer than most, for AqPop it was compelling, arranged superbly and bought a very good set by the band from Trondheim to a perfect ending.

For Thor Jørgen Holm, Thomas Ingdal and Andreas Knudsen, you can only hope that they follow some of their other Scandinavian counterparts and come back to Liverpool more often, for their brand of Psychedelic Power Pop was something to cast off the troubles of the day and imagine the great images they painted in their lyrics, it is something of a rare pleasure.

Ian D. Hall