Tomas Raae & Eline Hellerud Åsbakk - ...før de spredtes (Kontentum)

The Slow Music Movement
Jun 22
2 min read

*** This blog post first appeared in TSMM's June 13th Newsletter, where you can get all the tips (and more) first ***

This is the album cover for Tomas Raae & Eline Hellerud Åsbakk's, før de spredtes album. It's a hazy photo of dark foliage and glowing sparks from a fire in the background. Ancient Nordic ink drawings in white appear in the bottom left hand corner, and the album title is in the middle in small text.

Tomas Raae is a Danish bass player who likes to explore the possibilities available to him in this age of electronic production, whether it's sampling, post production or live electronics. Norway’s Eline Hellerud Åsbakk floats nimbly between Nordic folk and jazz realms, and is the perfect partner to pull off this ambitious project reinterpreting ancient Scandinavianand folk music, some of which was written in runes seven hundred years ago, for a modern audience.

As with so much of Scandinavia’s ethereal music output, there’s a slight chill and introspective quality that runs through the recordings, unsurprising I guess with thousands of years of harsh, sun challenged weather behind them. But chilly doesn’t mean unlistenable and Åsbakk’s stunning voice raises the temperature, as she regales the listener with ancient tales of mountain kings seducing young farm girls, and the like.

Raae, as well as keeping the ambient lights low, busies himself with Moog, Polysix, Guitar, Piano and bass sounds, as Lea Foxman chips in with vocal support on a couple of tracks, Victor Dybbroe lends his Percussion, Bjørn Heebøll plays Trommer + Marimba as Lars Emil Riis drops in with some welcome piano; it’s very much a team effort, though egos were left at the door and showboating eschewed for a minimal, collective approach that is more about creating moods and shadows than shining spotlights, even when the percussion kicks a bit.

Although Raae is director of operations and should be lauded for setting the tone and pulling off this wonderful LP, his selfless approach leaves the focus on Åsbakk, whose voice rings pure and true from the instrumental gloom, deftly traversing centuries and breathing new life into these songs that were languising on dusty tomes and slates.