The Norwegian duo look to the open skies and the wild west for inspiration on their expansive second album.
Ask Carol have been releasing music since 2017. They are Ask Thorsønn Borgen on drums, guitar, and sampling, and Karoline Strømshoved on vocals, guitar, bass, and trombone. They describe themselves as an alternative indie-rock duo, however if you hadn’t listened to their earlier work you might be confused by that labelling with this new release. Whilst they previously cited The Kills and The Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs as inspiration this album feels more of a mix of indie-folk, country and western and western film soundtracks (a few nods to Ennio Morricone pop up here and there), alongside a touch of proper blues.
The duo are based out of the Norwegian mountain community of Auma and this music feels like a mix of those widescreen vista views, rolling countryside, cattle farms and a leaning into the traditions of their US equivalents. The band love to perform outdoors and have recorded a series of their songs and cover versions in very unlikely places. Opening track ‘Desert’ has been recorded everywhere from Norway to Wyoming to Northern-most town of the world Svalbard! The recorded version is a haunting ode to the huge open space of the desert. It recalls many fine films and would have graced the soundtrack of any of them. This is later recalled through ‘Desert Sky’ which begins with Morricone-esque guitar and whistling. The themes of ‘Desert’ carry through into ‘Wind In My Hair.’
‘Cold July’ is a beautiful little ditty carried through acoustic guitar and Carol’s emotive voice. ‘Writing On The Wall’ seems very reflective of our current age, talking about lost liberty and how to fight the ruling class and oligarchs. “It ain’t safe here anymore.” It feels very punk, yet the American styled country and Western tones make it even more effective given that it is the US that is one of the biggest concerns regarding democracy right now. ‘Ohio’ might just be the album highlight. ‘Seasons’ is another strong track.
This is an album that it is very broken up, there are lots of short interludes. If you put together just the full length tunes it is only 25 minutes and then one of those is a 5-minute reprise of an earlier entry. The simplicity of the basic guitar chords does threaten to leave it a little bit samey, and it won’t be for everyone, but Karoline Strømshoved does the heavy lifting with her voice, lead guitar and trombone. There are moments of magic here, five high quality tracks and those are rich pickings for film soundtrack producers.
I will leave you with one more of their live videos, this slightly bonkers rendition of Grieg’s classical tune ‘In The Hall Of The Mountain King’ performed right next to a rather large canyon!
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