Search - Linnea Olsson :: Linnea Olsson | Ah | CD

There are all sorts of reasons why people become musicians, with some simply fated to pursue the path. It s not how they start out, however, rather than how they proceed that matters. LINNEA OLSSON is no exception, and this fact is reflected in the manner in which her debut solo album, AH!, unfolds. Stroking out low, mournful notes on her cello, layering them delicately upon one another before teasing out Ocean s melody on its higher strings, she sets a tone that predicts an album which might sit comfortably alongside the burgeoning post-classical / neo-classical movement. But to make such an assumption would be entirely wrong: LINNEA OLSSON rarely treads where one might expect. AH! is a far cry from the work of such artists as Dustin O Halloran, Johann Johannsson and their contemporaries, who have earned their reputation in recent years with their fusion of classical and modern influences. OLSSON s work instead has more in common with Arthur Russell partially thanks to its fundamental integration of a delay modeller and loop station in her compositions but she prefers to think of herself as having more in common with Julia Kent (of Antony & The Johnsons) and Zoey Keating. So OLSSON may lure us into a false sense of tranquillity with the album s beatific opening four minutes, yet it s the title track immediately afterwards that is more indicative of what will follow: staccato notes echoing over an empty landscape in which distant forms seem slowly to transform into discernible substance, her husky voice tracing a playful, magical tune that celebrates a need to dance and twirl after time spent alone. It s typical of an album that revels in unpredictability delivered with only the slightest of means, a debut that combines intimate, melancholic contemplation with unbridled, captivating delight. It s all the more remarkable because asides from the use of a darbuka (a Middle Eastern goblet drum) the only instruments on show throughout these compelling forty minutes are LINNEA OLSSON s voice and her beloved cello.