Helena Espvall is a Swedish–American musician noted for her participation in the post-millennial

psychedelic folk Psychedelic folk (sometimes acid folk or freak folk) is a loosely defined form of psychedelic music that originated in the 1960s. It retains the largely acoustic instrumentation of contemporary folk music, folk, but adds musical elements common ...

and free improv scenes. Her primary instruments are cello, guitar, and voice."Helena Espvall interviewed and introduced by Buck Curran". (2009). Dream Magazine No. 9, pp. 12–13.

Career

Espvall's early career included work with Arabian music ensemble Sumer and with Projektor 7, a silent movie orchestra formed by members of Swedish pop group Komeda. She relocated to Philadelphia, USA in the year 2000. Time spent concentrating on cello improvisation led to performances at the High Zero festival in 2001 and 2002. Espvall subsequently entered Philadelphia's flourishing psychedelic and weird-folk circles. She joined Espers shortly after they recorded their first album, was a member of

The Valerie Project The Valerie Project was a Philadelphia-based psychedelic folk band. Their first (self-titled) album, released in 2007, is intended to serve as an alternate soundtrack to the cult Czech New Wave film '' Valerie and Her Week of Wonders''.

, and formed the duo

Anahita Anahita is the Old Persian form of the name of an Iranian goddess and appears in complete and earlier form as ('), the Avestan name of an Indo-Iranian cosmological figure venerated as the divinity of "the Waters" ( Aban) and hence associat ...

with Tara Burke (a.k.a.

Fursaxa Fursaxa is a United States–based psychedelic folk or freak folk project led by Tara Burke of Pennsylvania. Her home-recordings feature acoustic guitar, simple Casio electronic keyboards, accordion, dulcimer and her heavily overdubbed vocals on ...

). In 2006, a trio consisting of Espvall, Espers bandmate

Meg Baird Meg Baird is an American musician based in San Francisco, California, United States, who, in addition to her solo career, is known as a founding member, lead vocalist, and drummer for Heron Oblivion, along with members from Assemble Head in Sunb ...

, and English folk singer Sharron Kraus released an album of traditional folk songs under the title Leaves From Off The Tree. 2006 also saw the release of Espvall's first solo album, ''Nimis & Arx'', named after the large-scale sculptures erected in the

micronation A micronation is a polity, political entity whose representatives claim that they belong to an independent nation or sovereign state, but which lacks legal recognition by any sovereign state. Micronations are classified separately from list o ...

of Ladonia by Swedish artist Lars Vilks. Collaboration with Masaki Batoh (of Japanese psych band

Ghost In folklore, a ghost is the soul or Spirit (supernatural entity), spirit of a dead Human, person or non-human animal that is believed by some people to be able to appear to the living. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely, from a ...

) produced two albums released by the Drag City label. The first of these, ''Helena Espvall & Masaki Batoh'', included several Swedish folk songs and marked the first prominent appearance of Espvall's vocals. A BBC review called it "beautifully fragile, remarkably melodic and enticingly charming". 2009's ''Overloaded Ark'' tilted toward extended psychedelic jams, featuring members of Ghost Junzo Tateiwa and Kazuo Ogino as well as ancient music specialist Haruo Kondo. The album's varied instrumentation included acoustic and electric guitars, cello, organ, shō, banjo, renaissance harp,

rauschpfeife A rauschpfeife ( pl. rauschpfeifes or rauschpfeifen; German: Rauschpfeife, pl. Rauschpfeifen) is a capped conical reed musical instrument of the woodwind family, used in Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries. In common with the crumhorn and c ...

crumhorn The crumhorn is a double reed , double reed instrument of the woodwind family, most commonly used during the Renaissance music, Renaissance period. In modern times, particularly since the 1960s, there has been a revival of interest in early mu ...

cornamuse The cornamuse is a double reed instrument dating from the Renaissance music, Renaissance period.Boydell, Barra R. "Cornamusa (i)." Grove Music Online. 2001. Oxford University Press. Date of access 8 Feb. 2024 It is similar to the crumhorn in ha ...

hurdy-gurdy The hurdy-gurdy is a string instrument that produces sound by a hand-turned crank, rosined wheel rubbing against the strings. The wheel functions much like a violin (or nyckelharpa) bow, and single notes played on the instrument sound similar ...

, recorders, piano, frame drums,

darbuka The goblet drum (also chalice drum, tarabuka, tarabaki, darbuka, darabuka, derbake, debuka, doumbek, dumbec, dumbeg, dumbelek, toumperleki, tumbak, or zerbaghali; / Romanized: ) is a single-head membranophone with a goblet-shaped body. It is ...

, riq, and electronics. In 2010, Espvall released ''Lapidary'', an improvised collaboration with noise/drone figure Marcia Bassett. Writing for ''

The Wire ''The Wire'' is an American Crime fiction, crime Drama (film and television), drama television series created and primarily written by the American author and former police reporter David Simon for the cable network HBO. The series premiered o ...

'' magazine, Keith Moliné compared it to the first Ash Ra Tempel album and dubbed it "an impressively powerful record". Espvall frequently lends cello playing to the work of other musicians. She has been a member of the touring bands for Vashti Bunyan, Damon and Naomi,

, and Marissa Nadler; she has made guest appearances on records by

Bert Jansch Herbert Jansch (3 November 1943 – 5 October 2011) was a Scottish folk musician and founding member of the band Pentangle (band), Pentangle. He was born in Glasgow and came to prominence in London in the 1960s as an acoustic guitarist and ...

Arborea Arborea is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Oristano, Sardinia, Italy, whose economy is largely based on agriculture and cattle breeding with production of vegetables, rice, fruit and milk (notably the local milk product Arborea). Histo ...

, and Charalambides, among others.

Discography

Solo

*''Nimis & Arx'' CD (2006) (Fire Museum/Pax Recordings)

As part of Espers

*"Riding" / "Under The Waterfall" 7" single (2005) (Wichita) *'' The Weed Tree'' CD/LP (2005) (Locust Music) *'' II'' CD/LP (2006) (Drag City) *'' III'' CD/LP (2009) (Drag City)

As part of The Valerie Project

*''The Valerie Project'' CD/2LP (2007) (Drag City)

As part of Anahita

*''Arcana En Cantos'' CD-R/LP (2006/2010) (Deserted Village/alt.vinyl) *''Matricaria'' CD (2008) (Important Records) *''Tourmaline'' LP (2016) (Three:Four Records)

With Sharron Kraus and Meg Baird

*''Leaves from Off the Tree'' CD/LP (2006) (Bo'Weavil Recordings)

With Masaki Batoh

*''Helena Espvall & Masaki Batoh'' CD/LP (2008) (Drag City) *''Overloaded Ark'' CD/2LP (2009) (Drag City)

With Marcia Bassett

*''Lapidary'' Cassette/LP (2010) (Heavy Blossom/alt.vinyl)

With Marielle Jakobsons and Agnes Szelag

*''Espvall/Jakobsons/Szelag: Improvisations for Strings and Electronics'' CD-R dition of 100(2012) (Arachnidiscs)

With Alan Sondheim and Azure Carter

*''Cauldron'' LP (2012) (Tequila Sunrise/Fire Museum)

With Ernesto Diaz-Infante

*''A Hallowed Shell of Ash and Rust'' CD (2013) (Erototox Decodings)

With David Maranha

*''Sombras Incendiadas'' LP (2015) (Three:Four Records)

Compilation appearances

*''The Garden of Forking Paths'' CD (2007) (Important Records) *''We are all one, In the Sun: A tribute to Robbie Basho'' CD/LP (2010/2011) (Important Records/alt.vinyl)

References

External links

High ZeroDrag City's page for Helena Espvall and Masaki Batohalt.vinylDiscogs entry for Helena Espvallthree:four Records
{{DEFAULTSORT:Espvall, Helena American experimental musicians Psychedelic folk musicians Drag City (record label) artists Avant-garde cellists Folk cellists Rock cellists Swedish women singers Swedish session musicians Swedish composers Swedish cellists People from Umeå Living people Women cellists Year of birth missing (living people) Espers (band) members The Valerie Project members Musicians from Västerbotten County