Reviews//
OVER TONES
Det er tankespillet og den lette, trolske stemningen duoen greier å skape som gjør miksen mellom folketoner
og eksperimentell musikk så vellykket.
Tradisjonen er selve bærebjelken i både Valland Nordlis klokkeklare vokalutøvelse og Maurseths syngende strengelek, men den tjener også som utgangspunkt for improviserte partier og rene klangforløp med forsiktig elektronisk assistanse.
REPORTASJE OG INTERVJU:
Musikken til Maurseth og Valland Nordli bygger åpenbart på tradisjonsmateriale, og har samtidig noe tidløst over seg.
The music here displays delicacy and elegance, as well as the beguiling mystery of their shared musical tradition and the sheer power of raw melancholy. There’s such openness in the way they work together that the result is music that is deeply personal and yet falls so well into ECM’s catalogue of giving free rein to imagination and improvisation. […] This sequence of duo s and solos makes this far more than just another excellent CD of Norwegian folk – it’s a journey into new territory.
Fiona Talkington, Songlines
They both come from the gorgeous West Norway fjord region that gives its name to the fiddle. The folk music of that region also supplies the pair with their inspiration, both for arrangements of traditional pieces and for original songs of their own. The results are relatively slow and steady, full of space and rich with mountain and ocean air. Maurseth will set up a repeating phrase and Nordli will swoop and fly above it, as a bird on an airwave. The blend of the smooth clear voice and the slightly rasping strings is just close enough, and just distinct enough. The almost title piece ‘Overtone’ begins with an oscillating bi-tone and then fills in with more overtones on the fiddle, Nordli carefully adding wordless long notes above to construct the most elegant – and elemental – of music. […] The kind of album that surrounds the listener in a whole other world.
Peter Bacon, The Jazz Breakfast