Anton Toorell - Solos II
Released on Thanatosis, March 27, 2026
Anton Toorell’s second solo album, the programmatically titled Solos II, offers an intensification of the rich six-string poetics of his debut, 2022’s Solos. With Solos II, the Swedish guitarist, composer and producer expands on his achievements from half a decade ago, perhaps counterintuitively by focusing in on aspects of his relationship with the guitar, in both playing and tuning. The result is three tracks of cascading tonality that feel rigorous, but are performed with a light touch, unassumingly, any conceptual gambits never overshadowing the lustrous sounds Toorell coaxes from two guitars.
Toorell’s approach to his instrument – or instruments – here makes the most of both the guitar’s potential for clashing, silvery texturality, and of his own physicality. The technique he explores across ‘Volta’, ‘Cripta’ and ‘Scala’ involves playing two guitars at the same time: as Toorell explains, “the left hand is on the fretboard playing hammer on, pull off techniques, and the right hand is on the guitar in the lap playing mostly open strings.” Part of the magic here, though, is that this never feels showy or busy – the technique is in service to Toorell’s compositional mind and improvising capabilities.
There’s potential plenty here for unplanned resonance and happy accidents, though the material on Solos II is also sturdy, clearly outlined, and beautifully poised. ‘Volta’ shimmers and eddies, seemingly endlessly, its expansive seventeen minutes an unrelenting flow of shivering strings, as though the listener’s blissfully adrift on crystal spires, the notes falling into the ears like a million tiny stalactites. Its repeated oscillations around a small child’s clutch of tones are always
compelling, with Toorell coaxing minute variations from the guitars.
‘Cripta’ spirals and cycles beautifully: this will seem curious, but it feels, somehow, like an acoustic take on the hallucinatory guitar loops of early Seefeel, or the spinning-top, mirroring hypnotism of Terry Riley. With the closing, becalmed ‘Scala’, the room is most present, and indeed, throughout Solos II the recording space of Palazzo Stabile in Piemonte, Italy, is both a guiding presence, and Toorell’s third instrument: “I was working in a 16th century wine cellar, a room with intriguing reverberant acoustic character. The process centred around tuning the guitars in that room, trying to find tunings that ‘opened up’ the space.”
Throughout Solos II, there’s something other, something liminal, slipping between the notes, ghosting the music. Maybe it’s the higher mind that comes when an artist opens their spirit both to improvisation and repetition as route to transcendence, while allowing both themselves and their instruments to commune with the space they’re situated within. In this sense, Solos II is architectural music, but it’s also deeply personal, repetition as structure but with the kinds of minute variations that only the human touch can provide.
CREDITS
All music composed and performed by Anton Toorell Produced and recorded by Peder Simonsen
at Palazzo Stabile 2024-2025
Mixed by Anton Toorell
Mastered by Taylor Deupree
Artist photos by Johan Toorell
Design by Michell Zethson, finalised by Sara Lundén Photo from Helmer Bäckströms arkiv / Tekniska museet
Executive production by Alex Zethson BIEM/NCB all rights reserved
(C) & (P) 2026 Thanatosis produktion
Made with support by the Swedish Arts Council
PR by DENSE PR – ed@dense.de
and JIM JOHNSTONE (UK) – jim@ampersandpr.com
DISTRIBUTION by BORDER MUSIC / RED EYE
Live dates:
February 24 2026 KET, Athens
April 12 2026 Lotsjö Kapell, Stockholm
Anton Toorell - Solos is released February 11, 2022 on Ace Tunes
Tracklist:
01 - Beginning performed on two guitars
02 - Chords Performed on guitar and guitar samples
03 - Snares Performed on two guitars and live triggered samples
04 - Cid Performed on two guitars
05 - Mode 2 Performed on two guitars
06 - Sticks Performed on one guitar where the strings are divided in two
07 - Off Somewhere Performed on Cittra and phone
Credits:
Composed, performed, recorded and mixed by Anton Toorell
Additional mix by Niclas Lindström in Atlantis Metronome
Mastered by Taylor Deupree
Cover Art by Johan Toorell
Cat nr: [ACE005]
Made with support from Swedish Arts Council
Bandcamp:
Soundcloud:
Hi-Res Press Photos: www.acetunes.biz/antontoorell
Contact: anton@acetunes.biz
PR-Contact: ed@dense.de
Anton Toorell - Solos
Solos is the solo debut album by Swedish guitarist, composer and producer Anton Toorell. The seven tracks on Solos have been carefully selected from the vast amount of recordings that Toorell has made between 2019-2021 as part of his ongoing investigations of what is possible as a solo guitarist.
Although recorded over an extended time-span, and at various locations, the album is far from fragmented: rather it invites the listener to join Toorell on his focused search for new sounds, new techniques and
- unselfconsciously - a unique musical voice. The recordings included on Solos are highlights from this archive, collected sonic traces from an open-ended process, that together form a strong and coherent whole.
Toorell initially approached the acoustic and electric guitar with the music of Jimi Hendrix, bob hund, Robert Johnson and Neil Young streaming in his heart and mind, ears and fingers. He subsequently studied jazz for several years before directing most of his musical focus to various bands and projects including the techno-tuba duo Invader Ace (with Peder Simonsen), quasi-math-experimental-rock duo Dammit I'm Mad (with Christian Augustin) and the Joe Williamson-led, post-Beefheart free- grooving trio Receptacles. He's currently studying for a master’s degree in electro-acoustic composition at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm.
Listening to Solos you might come to think of the guitar streams of James Blackshaw, Japanese koto music, Olivier Messiaen's tonal structures, the almost-repetition of late Morton Feldman or the semi-circular rhythmic language of fellow Swedish guitarist David Stackenäs. Yet, the music on this album sounds as fresh and original as the techniques that Toorell has invented to realize it.
Toorells main setup for Solos involves two acoustic guitars: one or both positioned horizontally. By means of eloquent hammer-on/pull-off techniques, a cascade of notes emerges, rich in metamusical phenomena. Never static, it is always carried forward by subtle shifts and nuances in accent, pitch and rhythm. The music requires speed and a prodigious virtuosity, but at the same time, it moves forward slowly and gently and Toorell performs with such a modesty that it makes it all sound effortless.
The guitar sound is certainly in the focus throughout, but on several tracks, other instruments and sounds enter into a dialogue with the acoustic guitar. For example, on Snares, one of the guitars is doubled with live triggered samples of a snare drum and on Chords, the acoustic guitar is performed in combination with guitar samples aligned to the harmonic series. These additional non-acoustic sound are not simple adornment but are tightly integrated within Toorells’s instrumental setup, tuning choices, and recording methods.
The seven pieces on Solos are like distinct planets circling the same galaxy. Closely related and informing each other, here they are condensed in duration, but still give the listener an impression of infinite musical vibration extending endlessly beyond the recording at hand.
Live dates:
February 24 - FRIM at Fylkingen, Stockholm
April 28 - Folkteatern, Göteborg
Anton Toorell (b. 1988) is a guitarist, producer and composer based in Stockholm, Sweden. His solo project is centered around acoustic guitars in open tunings, and explores playing-techniques with multiple instruments simultaneously. While his solo debut focused on expanding the guitar with electronic elements, the follow-up album centers on documenting the full performances and processes, emphasizing the acoustic interplay in a resonant space. His second solo album ’Solos II’ is being released on Thanatosis in March 2026.
Toorell’s practice also revolves around studio work, evident both in his own projects and in collaborations with other artists. Recent work includes collaborations with Vathres, Rotem Geffen, Joe Williamson, Bäckström/Wärnheim, Solulf, Ylva Ceder, Margaux Oswald, Propan, Tv Dinner Education, Griskmask and Hein Westgaard Trio, as well as contributions to his own groups, including Receptacles, Dammit I’m Mad, and Invader Ace.
As a guitarist, he has contributed to projects such as The Ägg, Alex Zethson Ensemble, Propan, and Trondheim Jazz Orchestra, as well as being a touring musician with Viagra Boys on their latest US tour.
Toorell holds a bachelor’s degree in jazz, and master’s degree in Electro Acoustic composition from The Royal Academy of Music in Stockholm.