Personnel: Lindha Kallerdahl (vocals, piano, grand piano, organ); Lindha Kallerdahl (vocals, grand piano, organ).

Audio Mixers: Lindha Kallerdahl; Johannes Lundberg.

Recording information: Epidemin, Gotebord, Sweden (11/27/2006-11/28/2006).

The music of Swedish experimental musician Lindha Kallerdahl ranges among jazz, chamber music, and avant-garde improvisation. A fixture on the Stockholm music scene, Kallerdahl often performs a capella, displaying the incredible elasticity and range of her voice, but she also plays piano and organ to create a spare, often haunting accompaniment. GOLD is a mind-bending sampler of Kallerdahl's adventurous aesthetic, and comes highly recommended to fans of Meredith Monk, Yoko Ono, and Bjork's more experimental work.

It seems only right that Lindha Kallerdahl's music is on ESP, for one could imagine her being around in the 1960s and recording for that label. An adventurous improviser, Kallerdahl has a voice that ranges from haunting to plain annoying, from whispers to screaming. Born and raised in Sweden, Kallerdahl has long been interested in free jazz. Her long tones sometimes sound as if she studied Indian music and her interpretations of lyrics are certainly eccentric; Gold contains one of the oddest versions ever of "Body and Soul." On the other hand, she sounds as if she can hit any note that she wants, and she certainly has a fertile imagination. Kallerdahl occasionally accompanies herself on piano or organ although half of the pieces on Gold are solo vocals. Very open-eared listeners will find this music to be stimulating, although many will think of Gold as being consistently unlistenable and this set seeming to last much longer than 35-and-a-half minutes. But there will be no debate about Kallerdahl's musical courage. ~ Scott Yanow