Boot is Hållbus Totte Mattsson (mandora, Baroque lute, from hedningarna), Ola Bäckström (violin, bouzouki, well known fiddler and member of Swap) and Samuel Andersson (percussion, hurdy-gurdy, octave violin; from Hedningarna, Godrun), three well respected Swedish musicians who are familiar with tradition in a powerful new trio recording.
Itku Balkan
Rödhåringen
The band says: When three of Sweden´s leading folk musicians join together with traditional instruments and rhythms, but combine this with a modern sound and a lot of attitude, you can be sure that the result will be something extra special.
When Boot lets the polska´s triple time be massaged by heavy percussion and the fiddle is challenged by electronics, it is a perfect illustration of the concept of traditional music. Acoustic music, but with a heaviness that sometimes approaches that of rock. Folk music, music that evolves in harmony with the times and the players. Folk music for the twenty-first century.
Boot is made up of Hållbus Totte Mattsson (traditional lute, baroque lute), Ola Bäckström (fiddle, bouzouki) and Samuel Andersson (percussion, string drum, octave fiddle), three experienced folk musicians who have the tradition in their backbones but the possibilities for development and curiosity in their hands and brains. Boot started out as back-up players for the dance group Virvla and was nominated for a Grammy for a joint disc in the year 2000. Now it is time for a real comeback.
Hållbus Totte Mattsson has a background in groups such as Groupa and Hedningarna (The Heathens). Together with Stefan Brisland-Ferner, of Garmarna, he plays in the experimental Hurdy-Gurdy duo, which collaborates with among others the world-famous American string quartet The Kronos Quartet. Ola Bäckström is a fiddler at heart, a top player of Dalecarlian tunes with several impressive solo records under his belt. He has also played with Den Fule and Swåp. Samuel Andersson is one of the most exciting folk musicians of the younger generation and plays in bands such as Hedningarna, Godrun and his own solo project Looptok, where with the help of technology he creates an entire band all on his own.
With a group of instruments partly taken from the baroque one might think that it would sound elegant and courtly. But here there is more dirt under the nails. Boot has a broad range of sound, from the ethereal and beautiful to the dark, pounding, gnarled and surly polskas. Driving percussion is combined with a pursuing fiddle and an electrified traditional lute stretches the limits to the maximum. Boot is a band for which every tone is vital, Boot never plays in a perfunctory way. Boot creates music that is definitely the trio´s very own.
Boot
