Icebear

Icebear is the sound art project of 21 year old Kildare experimental musician & multidisciplinary artist Eilis Mahon, which began as a lofi-ambient music project whilst Mahon was still in secondary school. After a brief tenure in college studying Creative Music Production, Mahon began using the project as a method of exploring avant-garde sound using electronics, namely through live performance and subsequently recording.

Mahon primarily uses the Icebear project to explore themes of identity, trauma and alienation, which she does through live improvisation on electronics, creating longform performance and sound pieces. She employs a range of equipment from synths, pedals, tape, vocals and electronically manipulated found sound.

Known for her visceral and cathartic performances, Mahon seeks to subvert the expectations held over women and femme people in live music settings and public spaces with her shows. This often involves a degree of physicality in the artist’s performance, and oftentimes audience engagement in her sets. She hopes to sever the barrier often placed between the spectator and the spectacle through her shows.

With a sound that often ranges from abrasive to ambient, rhythmic to drone-like, Mahon’s primary goal within her performances is to create a space for cathartic expression and healing through the unpredictable, immersive and transcendental sound of her live sets.

Photo credit is Zoe Holman.