Ruth Wilhelmine Meyer - One Voices

Welcome to a sonic world created by one single, unprocessed voice
Welcome to a sonic world created in real time
Welcome to enter a variety of auditive spaces
Welcome to a vocal orchestra

On International Women's Day, March 8th, we are proud to present Ruth Wilhelmine Meyer's new album, One Voices. An album that invites you into a unique sound universe created solely by Ruth Wilhelmine's unprocessed voice in real time, without loops. Ruth Wilhelmine has crafted an entirely analog and acoustic vocal universe with ultra-precise vocal articulations, seductive melodic lines, breath textures, and acoustic structures in an intuitive flow. The music has a crystal-clear artistic vision, and at times it doesn't sound like voices, but more like a vocal orchestral work. A unique production that makes one wonder if the voice has any limits at all. Experience an unreal world created by a real voice on One Voices.

The project is composed as one piece consisting of five distinct sonic environments or sound sculptures, each varying in duration. Between these rooms are short passages lasting approximately one minute. These transitional moments serve as a mental reset, allowing the listener to release their connection to the preceding sounds and open their minds to a new auditory experience or mental state. The musical material in these short passages are mostly different colours of white noise. Through the layering of multiple instances of the same voice, Ruth attains an intimate connection to the body. At the same time, the orchestration of the voice distances the work from the overtly corporeal, objectifying the subjective by incorporating it into an architectural framework.

Three of the works on this album are commissioned pieces from various institutions: "Lokeslottet" commissioned by Det Norske Solistkor, "We" commissioned for the Trall app, "Trinity" for Liv Kristin Holmberg's "The Liturgy of Breath."

“Great interpreters are recognized by the urgency they convey, often in just one single note. They create a whole world with their statements, a world of astonishing stories, radiating something autobiographical as well as something universal.
Moving from theory to practice, all these points are true for Ruth Wilhelmine Meyer. For the Norwegian artist, musical phrases are more than just beautiful lines – they become carriers of the experienced and the suffered. They contain tears, tragedies, and dreams. Meyer dives into the depths of music, revealing its various shades, yet completely in tune with herself.” 

• Ljubisa Tosic, Jazz Podium 2-3/2023

Biography

Ruth Wilhelmine Meyer is a Norwegian distinctive vocal artist, multi-vocalist, and composer who explores her instrument to create music through vocal timbres and various expressive techniques. Her music spans over multiple genres and stylistic expressions, ranging from classical vocal tradition to selected vocal traditions from the Nordic regions, including throat singing, Norwegian folk music, multiphonics, and pure noise music. Her vocal range extends over 7 octaves. This unique expression makes her sought after for concerts, stage productions, film music, sound installations, and recordings worldwide.

Meyer collaborates with various instrumentalists and singers globally, among them as a vocal soloist in the Polish based World Orchestra/ Grzech Piotrowski. Among her Norwegian collaborators, jazz pianist Helge Lien and organist/composer Nils Henrik Asheim are notable. The opera Camille Claudel – An Inner Opera was specially written for her by composer Steffen Schorn, it premiered on Bayern Rundfunk in November 2022, and will be released in the fall of 2024. Steffen Schorn is the producer of One Voices.