Squalloscope is the alias of Vienna based Anna Kohlweis, who, between 2006 and 2009, produced three solo albums as Paper Bird. Anna Kohlweis works as a solitary force on songwriting, production, recording, artwork and music videos and likes to see the lyrical content of a song as the centerpiece of her composition.
The alias Squalloscope was born in 2012 with „Soft Invasions“, an album based on notes from travel journals, tightly connected to the imagery of train stations, airports and restless traveling.
„Desert“ (EP, 2013) once more connects the artistic cornerstones of this one-woman-enterprise – spoken word, semi-fictional storytelling in music and pictures, multi-layered choirs, working with found artifacts and the merging of beats, acoustic samples and her own voice.
"Steve Reich’s exhortation that musicians who talk about genres should wash their mouths out with soap would go down well with this field-recording, story-telling fine artist who makes space connections between widescreen words and a rocket to god-knows-where…Squalloscope layers vocals, guitars and beats into music held together by her diamond-diffused stories about tarmac, blood-red aorta and, well, life.”
(Red Bull Music Academy ‘13)
„This one-woman muscial powerhouse has a voice that will make your soul sink to your toes, and lyrics to match. Her lyrics aren’t verse-chorus, they’re more like poetry: unconventional form, saturated with metaphors and intensely personal. This is a great concept album, too, with recurring themes tying it together. Kind of like a poetry collection…”Domino” has a cool groove to it, using some kind of crazy percussion. Fucking amazing lyrics, brilliant if you’re into poetry. “Light a candle with the forest, light the forest with your breath.” “Bloodbaths For Birds” will stab you in the stomach in your sleep, wide-eyed and straight-faced. Track 8 is called “Z-E-P-H-Y-R” and you better fucking play it. Warning: might make you cry. This is made for nights on the interstate in the rain.“
(Greg Gonzales, kamp arizona)
