The ART in FIRE

Swedish Grammy Winners Abalone Dots play Visalia

Sound Tracks

by Aaron Gomes

Thursday, October 8
ABALONE DOTS
Crossing Caldwell
$5, 21+, 9:30pm
The Cellar Door
101 W. Main St., Visalia

Abalone Dots come from a small town in Sweden called Vastervik on the outskirts of Stockholm.  The talented musicians — Rebecka Hjukstrom (age 22), Louise Holmer (age 25), Elin Mork (age 24), and Sophia Hogman (age 24) — have played together for six years and have already become a top-selling artist on RCA Sweden since the release of their debut album in 2007, “From a Safe Distance”.   The album hit #2 on the iTunes sales charts.
The album immediately entered at the top of the Swedish charts, allowing the foursome to cultivate a rapidly-growing audience in the Scandinavian countries.  Their current single, “Solo” from their sophomore release “Traveler”, continues to garner attention including a Grammy Award (Swedish Grammis), multiple performances on major TV shows in Europe, along with numerous cover stories.

The Abalone Dots have seamlessly fused bluegrass, pop, alt country and rock, all based in sweet harmony and sparkling instrumentals into a new sound they call ´softgrass´. They recently took the International Bluegrass Music Association Awards ceremony by storm, and now the overwhelming excitement behind their music has now launched a global tour that finds the band making a stop at Visalia’s very own Cellar Door.  Don’t miss this special performace.

What follows is a brief interview that I conducted with Rebecka Hjukstrom and
Aaron: What can Visalia expect from an Abalone Dots show?
Rebecka (guitar, banjo, singer): Intresting music and nice harmonies.
Elin Mork (fiddle and singer): Lots of Swedish picking and lots of love.
Aaron: What is the most exciting part of playing music in the U.S.?
Rebecka: The people are different from Sweden, more openminded and enthusiastic.
Elin: I think the most exciting part for us right now is to see how the American audience are responding to our music, which has been a very positive experience so far. Besides that, it’s very much exciting to be on the road and see all the different, beautiful places all around the American country that we’ve only seen on movies and television.

Aaron: Please share a memorable on-the-road experience.
Elin: We have a lot of beautiful memories from the tour but I think my favorite part is from “The California World Fest” where we hooked up with a bunch of “hippies” in the middle of the night and we were invited to their camp. We sat under a parachute on pillows and soft blankets, drinking red wine, eating corn and learned how to belly dance, it was just a great night!

Aaron: What are you looking forward the most on this trip?
Elin: We are incredibly excited about playing on the “Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival” in San Francisco. There are such great bands and artists playing there that weekend and we feel truly honored to be among them.

Aaron: Is there anything else Visalia should know about Abalone Dots before your arrival in October?
Rebecka: If there is anything else anyone wants to know about us, please come and talk to us after the gig, we are very friendly!

Watch videos and hear Abalone Dots music: www.myspace.com/abalonedotsmusic