xiik

Elisa Thorn, harp. Self-released, 2025.

Boundary-busting harpist, vocalist, and composer Elisa Thorn describes her latest release, xiik, as “experimental indie for the bathtub.” Originally imagined as a solo looping project, Thorn expanded the concept by recording on three different harps—a Camac Ulysses, a Lyon & Healy Style 85, and a Salvi Daphne—drawing out the distinct sonic personality of each instrument. Having long rolled her eyes at the harp’s “angelic/mythical/feminine” stereotype, she approaches this album as an act of reclamation, stripping the instrument down to its raw elements and dismantling its ornamental reputation. What emerges is a striking and imaginative collection. It opens with the playfully intimate, quietly subversive Idle Talk, a meditation on gossip, all buoyed by top-notch drummer Dan Gaucher. Paint By Memory highlights Thorn’s gift for layering sonorities into vivid, collage-like textures, while her sonic meditation The Garden invites us with surprising gentleness to accept the coexistence of our past, present, and future selves.

A personal favorite is the whimsically introspective Lullaby for F—ery, a title that first made me laugh out loud until it became clear just how seriously Thorn takes the challenge of living a creative life. My advice? Buy this sublime album right now.

Skugga

Niseïs Duo: Anthony Castin, harp and traverso; and Elodie Poirier, cello, nyckelharpa, and vocals. Self-released, 2025.

In their second album, Skugga (which means “shade” in Swedish), the French Niseïs Duo—Anthony Castin on harp and traverso, and Elodie Poirier on cello, nyckelharpa, and vocals—presents shimmering music from Sweden that intertwines ancient and popular traditions. The result is a spirited, unconstrained dialogue that feels as if it’s unfolding in the moment. Poirier’s smoky vocals and the haunting timbre of the nyckelharpa, with its bowed strings and softly ringing sympathetics, lend the music an otherworldly, timeworn aura, while Castin’s expressive harp playing anchors and illuminates each track. In particular, the medieval elegance of Aetas Carmen, an upbeat, overdubbed spin on the folk tune Krigelek, the dreamy In Vernal Tempere, and the wild energy of När som jag var på mitt adertonde år, offer surprises and delights at every turn.