"On their long-awaited album, we get 11 sequences in the experimental landscape between jazz, improvisation, contemporary music and recitation. And they do it all the way with superior finesse and quality, so you just sit and gape at what flows out of the speakers." Jan Granlie, Salt Peanuts "Together with Sandell, there are unique conversations that no one has heard the likes of before and will not want to hear the likes of later. This is definitely a once-in-a-lifetime experience - a very exciting and unique one." Tor Hammerø, Nettavisen
Nice review from Morse 23
Very nice review in Salt Peanuts of the improvised trio with Isabelle Duthoit&Gyulaine Cosseron @ Moers sessions 23.
Reviews Rooms& Rituals , Trondheim Voices
ROOMS & RITUALS, ALBUM
-Collectively and cumulatively, these pieces move and unsettle the listener, bringing a sense of dislocation, and disorientation. It creates a space for pondering. This is art. Auralaggravation.com, GB-Voices like no others.. a vast universe of sound, which the ensemble and Karstad explores with a result that is both amazing and overwhelming.
– Founded on creativity, bravery and great vocal skills – it is a triumph of true originality. Terje Mosnes, Jazzinorge, NO
-The eerie vocals of Trondheim Voices with the live electronics of Asle Karstad come together in the haunting “Rooms & Rituals”. This impeccably sound designed album sends chills up your spine. New Sounds/NPR.org, USA
-filled with mystique and mystery, borrowing aspects from hypermodern theatre and abstract opera, bringing on multilayered non-vocalisms, slow electronica pulses, modular twists and other unusual proceedings which all fall into place .. to create an album like no album you ever heard. Nitestylez.de, DE
-Gregorian Choral 2000. Björk’s Sweet meets Meredith Monk’s nude art, in bright moments it has the dreamy-playful of Sigur Rós, in gloomy moments the endless blackness of Deathprods’ “Morals & Dogma”. Dramatic, theatrical, daring. Musikkultur, Skug.at, DE
-haunting, ethereal sounds that explore the voice in its different manifestations. Even though some of the pieces seem to balance on the edge of a pure electronic music, there is never a loss of the natural intimacy that’s never more effectively communicated than through the human voice. Avantmusicnews.com, USA
-Extremely good listeners discover ways to new worlds.
This is high level vocal art, and the music brings associations to both Björk og Meredith Monk. Morgenbladet, NO
-These singers have an incredible register, and they explore it to the maximum in cooperation with «the world´s best sound designer», Asle Karstad, on this album. All the way through, this is almost divine music. Jan Granlie, Salt-peanuts, NO
-The short pieces on Rooms & Rituals offer a spectrum of moods, emotions and atmospheres. All have a lasting effect on the listener mental state of mind, promising to rewire the brain’s neurons to a more enlightening and peaceful configuration. Eyal Hareuveni, NO
-A hurricane of creativity.. Each piece is a kind of bubble that houses a micro-universe in which supernatural events take place. The twelve performers master perfectly their formidable instruments (voice and Maccatrols). A huge bravo for their sense of detail and their musical sensitivity. It’s great art, it’s innovative and it’s extremely beautiful. A real rough diamond.. Chromatique.net, FR
Trondheim Voices “Rooms & Rituals” reviews
Brilliant reviews of “Rooms and Rituals ” (Grappa , 2018):
Inn i det uhørte | morgenbladet.no from Morgenbladet (Norwegian)
MUSIKKULTUR (German)
Reviews BOL&SNAH “So? Now ?”
A powerful meeting… “Intricate and open pop inspired by Joni Mitchell,spoken word ,”Sonic Youth – like” art-rock with an edge, and volcanic prog….” Vegard Enlid , Adressa ! (5/6)
” …. both rockers and jazz people with open senses will have plenty of reasons to enjoy
” So? What? ” . ” Tor Hammerø blogg.no
” You should give up any kind of resistance , because So ? What? is a powerful delight for the ear and should be obligatory for anyone who likes music. This is Genre-crushing at its most beautiful . This is a classic for those who seek the irresistible . ” Tor Stemland, Musikk fra Norge
More reviews at the BOL website :
Voxpheria review in Jazzwise (UK) :
Jazzwise Magazine
September 2012
Page 36
Reviews for Voxpheria !
Since the release, Voxpheria has been reviewed in several medias:
“And what might tomorrow’s sound be, if you could hear it today? Enter a wormhole as you brave Norwegian Tone Åse’s new album Voxpheria (Gigafon), a semi-dissonant duo with percussionist Thomas Stronen. Åse is an unearthly, achingly soulful singer; the two improvise with raw, symbiotic melding of electronicized human and inanimate sound in expressive ‘singularity’. Åse cracks all category orientations apart and invents new language.”
The New York City Jazz Record, (US) June 2012
“A beautiful and inventive achievement.”
In truth we wouldn´t want to do without anything on this album… because this is refreshing, new, vital music that in a unusually succesful way has taken charge of the electronics (and not the other way around)!
A new artistic breakthrough for Tone Åse
April 04/2012 by Jazznytt, Norway
“With Voxpheria, Tone Åse and Thomas Strønen have created quite an incredible piece of work. In turn spellbinding or disconcerting, accessible or challenging, it brings two incredibly talented and individual musicians. The result is, quite simply, breathtaking.
(5,9/6)
The Milk Factory, UK
“This album perfectly exemplifies that it´s possible to make new soundscapes using traditional instruments like vocals and drums.”
Trygve Lundemo, Adressa, Trondheim , Norway (5/6)
«Space Jazz» It could have been a new galaxy, but «Voxpheria» is introduced as the soundscape that´s created when the electro-acoustic improvisers Tone Åse and Thomas Strønen meet. Åse, who once co-founded Kvitretten, who is the leader in Trondheim Voices and has her own band Bol, has been an important voice in the field […]
Roald Helgheim, Dagsavisen, Oslo, February 16 2012
Reviews for BOL/SNAH/WESTERHUS: Numb, number
Latest reviews!
For those who read german:
Nordische Musik , July 2012
“….a melting pot of untimely sound worlds, poetic texts and fearless, improvising character.”
May 11/2012 All about jazz (US)
“That it all actually works extremely well and makes absolute sense from start to finish is perhaps not quite such a surprise considering the respective pedigree of each of the musicians involved, but if this record is by all means the direct result of these forces working together, that result is ultimately much greater than the sum of its parts.”
June 22/2102, The Milk Factory (UK)
“Separately and together we´re dealing with some of Norway´s furthermost creative and searching musicians – musicians that couldn´t care less about genres and labels. That´s probably why most of the music they make turns out unique, exiting and cool.”
March 03/2012 by Side 2 (NO).
Hyggelig omtale BOL på smal i Hove-festival !
Konsert: BOL på Samfundet
Skrevet av Haakon Berg Mathisen | 5. mars 2010 , Radiorevolt
BOL i Klubben på Samfundet ble en konsertopplevelse av dimensjoner.
Jeg opplevde det til tider som om mitt eget hode ble vrengt innsida ut, og at vi alle fløt rundt i en magisk og smått sinnssyk elektronisk ladet sky. Poetiske ord om drømmende musikk.
Tone Åse, Ståle Storløkken og Tor Haugerud er rett og slett en oppvisning i konsentrert og lydhør lydimprovisasjon. Det er en fryd både å se- og høre på.
Tankene går til noen av Pink Floyd eller Radioheads småschizofrene samfunnskommenterende låter. Men dette er bare mer reindyrka. Jeg forsøker ikke å legge mer mening i BOLs musikk enn det de kanskje selv har ment; men dette er virkelig postmoderne og desperat musikk, og det funker. Ikke bare funker det, det funker jævlig bra.
Lyden ut i salen var også noe av det beste jeg har hørt på lenge. Riktignok har trioen et ganske veldefinert og ryddig lydbilde, men all heder til en lydtekniker som viste et meget godt håndtverk gjennom lyden vi ble servert i Klubben på torsdag. Fint lys var det forresten også.
Reviews : BOL
BOL:
A solid sequel (…) although your expectations after listening to the album are high, it is an experience in itself to see and hear an electronic trio mastering the subtle art of playing together like this.
Roald Helgheim, Dagsavisen, Oslo
The span in their universe of electronica is delightfully extensive, from the obsessive to the nearby transparent fragile.
Svein Andersen, Aftenposten Oslopuls
Bol will probably be placed in the category of Jazz, although rockers and others with an open mind become to find pleasure in this excursion in Music. With “Silver Sun” Bol simply has given us some of the most exciting Music there is in a loooong, loooong time.
Tor Hammerø, Nettpuls, Oslo
“This jazz-poptronica trio from Trondheim have made a masterpiece with their second CD, a formula-defying journey up a river of humanity where heartbroken souls line the shore. 47 minutes of incandescent musical brilliance.”
www.itsatrap.com
Kevin Renick, It’sa trap /playback stl, St Louis, USA
….. Was das musikalische Weltraum-Labor trotzdem zusammenhält, ist die Ausdrucksstärke, mit der die drei Profis improvisieren und auf Klangjagd gehen. Und die Klangsprache selbst, die konsistent bleibt, trotz aller Ausflüge in grundverschiedene Genres. Dazu Tone Åses Stimme, die den so typisch norwegischen Klang irgendwo zwischen Susanna Wallumrød und Sidsel Endresen hat. Ab ins All !
Sebastian Pantel, Nordische Musik.de, Germany