Reviewer: Mufaor, KZSU ---
Very diverse music, haunting. The two long, mostly solo cello tracks rank right up there with Joelle Leandre and Eugene Chadbourne, as far as wild passionate and extremely diverse playing goes. Spooky, dark, dissonant, often psychedelic.
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Reviewer: Aquarius Records review ---
For those of you, like us, who may only know the Swedish cellist Helena Espvall from her work with the recent crop of neo-psych folk artists like Espers, Fursaxa, and Samara Lubelski, as well as being a member of Vashti Bunyan's touring band, you may be surprised, like we were, at the avant-garde leanings on her solo debut Nimis & Arx. However, after learning that Espvall has played with numerous free improv, dance and theater groups as well as with 20th century avant luminaries Pauline Oliveros and Eugene Chadbourne, we shouldn't really be surprised at all. With production and electronics provided by George Korein of Infidel?/Castro!, Nimis & Arx is a free improv maelstrom of cello, recorder, guitar and voice that is equal parts beautiful, difficult, tense and transcendent. Even the late, great Arthur Russell had not dragged his cello this far out into uncharted waters and that's saying something!
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Reviewer: Guy Montag, KFJC On-Line Reviews ---
Laborious avant classical sawing cello action slits the throat. The spirit escapes through the slash wound to gather its surroundings. Faintly whispering strings moan & mourn. Moving forward beyond death’s door finds us hovering through ethereal alter realities both foreign & stunning. Serene Central Asian recorder glides smoothly over plink & pluck harp tones and deeply chilling audio manipulations. Venial violoncello sins are cleansed and pronounced purgatorial sounds flicker down vaulted marble corridors. Lamenting liturgical litanies grieve out from Espvall’s inspired instruments. Her angelic voice sobs softly, frustrated and torn over death’s bittersweet invitation into the afterworld. Rather than embrace Heaven or take the straight line leading to Hell, her tormented ghost climbs from the crypt, clinging to an empirical realm where she wails woeful cello psalms and semi-disturbing haunted hymns. This might just creep you out as well as offer strange comfort. 3WR: Devotion Through Damnation.
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Reviewer: Mike Wood, Foxy Digitalis ---
The debut solo release from Swedish cellist and guitarist Helena Espvall, currently also in folk-psych band Espers. She’s already covered a wide range of music in her career, having played rock as well as experimental composition, working with the likes of Pauline Oliveros and Eugene Chadbourne. In each of these genres, she has held her own, and made a significant contribution, gaining the ability to use all her experiences in her own playing and writing. All of which is to say that she has a fairly deep and rich relationship to sound and gesture, making for a smart, evocative release. “Multiplication Broken and Restored,” parts 1 &2, are mini-masterpieces of restraint and generous emotion. Similarly, “The Straight Line Leads to Hell” is equally gorgeous and passionate. As with “Tidepools”, the title track mixes experimentation with the classic, and draws power from both sides of her expertise, and shows a maturity and vision that will only grow. Her solo career seems ready to blossom in many incredible directions. -Mike Wood
Hi Helena! your Istanbul photos flashed up on my screen and drew me into your album and wow, some really beautiful pictures of amazing places! thanks for brightening my day at the office!
