Erika Angell

Erika Angell's genre-defying experimentalism navigates indie, electronic, art pop, and jazz music as well as melismatic, spoken-word, and full-register vocal technique. After making her presence known in projects like noise duo the Moth, the more singer/songwriter-oriented Josef & Erika, and the Polaris Prize-nominated experimental rock group Thus Owls in the 2000s and 2010s, she released her dramatic solo debut album, The Obsession with Her Voice, in 2024. Raised on an island off the west coast of Sweden, Erika Alexandersson moved to Stockholm in 2004 to pursue opportunities in music. There, she became a member of the prestigious Fylkingen collective, a label and venue known for experimental music and art since its founding in 1933. She and bassist/singer Josef Kallerdahl put out an album as Erika & Josef called Wallpaper Stories in 2005. A jazz- and folk-oriented project, they returned with Small Small Small Small Sounds in 2007, the same year Erika co-founded the experimental rock group Thus Owls with drummer Ola Hultgren, bassist Martin Höper, and pianist Cecilia Persson. Before the end of the year, Thus Owls added Patrick Watson guitarist Simon Angell to the group. This lineup released the albums Cardiac Malformations (2009) and Harbours (2013) before Erika and Simon, now married, continued the project in Simon's hometown of Montreal, Canada. In the meantime, Antennae (2009) marked the debut of the Moth, Erika's electronic noise duo with Martin Öhman, and Josef & Erika issued their third LP, Floods (2011). The Angells, with Höper, keyboardist Parker Shper, and drummer Stefan Schneider, recorded Thus Owls' third album, Turning Rocks, in Montreal in mid-2013. It was released on Secret City Records in April 2014 and went on to be longlisted for the Polaris Music Prize. In November of 2014, the Moth released their second LP, Mammoth. A Thus Owls EP, Black Matter, appeared on Secret City in 2015. Also released in 2015 was another Josef & Erika long-player, Short Cuts/Highways. Although Thus Owls' next album was fleshed out with guests on guitars, drums, vocals, trumpet, and bass saxophone, the project was operating as a duo for 2018's The Mountain That We Live Upon. As Erika's other projects fizzled out, Thus Owls remained active, recording a double album in the first year or so of the COVID-19-pandemic. The resulting Who Would Hold You If the Sky Betrayed Us? was self-released in March 2022. A self-titled trio album with cellist/vocalist Peggy Lee and pianist/vocalist Róisín Adams under the avant-garde moniker Beatings Are in the Body appeared in May 2023. Angell was credited with vocals, electronics, and bells. In 2024, she covered the stylistic territory of her prior projects and more on her genre-defying solo debut album, which showcased her vocal dexterity. Titled The Obsession with Her Voice, it was released on Montreal-based indie label Constellation that March.
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