About Bipolar Bows
Biography
The international string duo Bipolar Bows was born in 2016 in Slovenia from a study project that brought French cellist Toby Kuhn and Belgian violinist Lotte Remmen together to explore styles, traditions and techniques that they weren't used to. This project quickly outgrew its first purpose when they brought a collection of rearranged traditionals and freshly minted originals to the stage, whose innovation and freshness wowed the public.
Originally Lotte and Toby were classical musicians. Both of them chose a different path, and proceeded to explore a world of folk music, quickly coming into contact with folk music communities which awakened their curious temperaments to the traditions of Europe, North America and even Africa; they also (still seperately) started down the path towards improvisation, both Jazz and otherwise, which quickly became a central interest for them individually, and then as a band. The real meeting point was around an Americana group, Old Salt, that Lotte co-founded in 2013 and Toby joined in 2016. Peripherally to this band they started practicing scales together, then chopping, then bow styles, then Balkan ornaments... as the list got longer, so did their common repertoire which they swore they would never perform. This went the way of many other good intentions when they first started jamming this newfound common ground in front of their friends and colleagues, who pushed (shoved) them to "make a band already!".
Bipolar Bows' music is a collection of styles and genres: they play a reimagined Classical showpiece alongside some Bulgarian-inspired compositions, some reworked traditionals from Macedonia, Armenia, France and Sweden, not to forget a few heartbreaking or dreamy imaginings; they effortlessly blend Jazz, Folk, Funk and Classical elements into a style that happily escapes defining. Always leaning on a new technique or outlandish tuning, they mix virtuosic tune-playing with flowery improvisations and meditative musings in an engaging, intense show that brings out their powerfully connected dialog, their boundless enthusiasm and their clear joy and love for music-making.
Their first proper concert was in 2019. Shortly thereafter they decided to make their first album Krunčhug, released in 2020, that they recorded as a live in-studio concert. The reception was superior and they in short order won the 2021 Flanders Folk Award for Most Promising Band. On the heels of this win, they went on to record their second studio album Little Bundles of Joy in 2022 with the help of internationally renowned producer Adam Pietrykowski, released in 2024. They have performed around Europe, at the Dranouter and Fiddlers on the Move festivals in Belgium, Umefolk in Sweden, on tour in Switzerland, France, Germany, Slovenia, and on the national radios of both Flanders and Bulgaria. They currently premiering a live show, Little Bundles of Film, around silent surrealistic movies from the 1920s and 30s as a residency at Muziekcentrum Dranouter.
Discography
Krunčhug (self-published 2019)
is what happens if you give each other a ‘crunchy hug’. The album is the result of a special artistic encounter, which grew into a musical symbiosis in which we push our instruments to the limit. Krunčhug takes one from Balkan, through Classical music with funky improvisations, to dreamy compositions and European folk.
The album was recorded in January 2020 during a live concert in Room 13 studio by Leander Meuris (Young Partners in Art), mixed by Adam Pietrykowski (Canada) and mastered by Pieter Dewagter (Equus). The album artwork was made by Katanari. Krunčhug was released on CD and vinyl on November 14, 2020 and on streaming platforms on December 19, 2020.
Little Bundles of Joy (Homerecords.be 2024)
This album was recorded in the deep of winter in a moment when, starved of performances and far from our public, we were at our lowest. In this black soil we sowed the seeds of these pieces that tell of our reaching towards the spring, the striving for the return of better days and the extensive musical dialog that we able to build on to do so. We were joined on our journey by our producer Adam who helped bring out of us these tales we needed to tell, with care, love and attention as well as with delicate craft and accomplished artistry.
The album was recorded and mixed in January 2022 by Adam Pietrykowski in Gam Studios, produced by Adam Pietrykowski and Bipolar Bows, and mastered by Silas Brown. The album’s artwork and design were made by Jan-Sebastiaan Degeyter. ‘Little Bundles of Joy’ was released on the 9th of February 2024 by Homerecords.be.