IRMELIN VOCAL TRIO
Traditional and newly composed folk music performed by three closely attuned voices.
A wide range of expression and improvisation carries you into a vocal dreamscape.
New album release 2025 - Sinnenas hus [House of the senses]
"Vocal Folk Album of the Year" according to the Swedish music magazine LIRA
ABOUT IRMELIN
Award winning group with nordic clarity and light in their voices.
Three of Sweden's top folk singers united.
Vocal trio Irmelin has been traveling with their music around the world for 25 years. With passion, sincerity and closely matched voices, the trio performs songs where a variety of emotional expressions and improvisations give life to both traditional folk music and newly composed music.
The three voices range from the sharpest tone to the most fragile phrase. With roots in the Nordic folk music tradition, the trio has curiously and experimentally developed a very unique sound over the years.
The group's members are all educated at the Royal Academy of Music in Stockholm and are well-respected professional singers. Irmelin has toured in Europe, Asia and North America and appeared in TV, radio and theater performances. Irmelin has released seven albums; Kärligheten (2006), Gyldene Freden (2008), North Sea Stories (2012), Swedish Folk Songs (2016), Upp (2020), Morgonstjärnan (2022) and Sinnenas hus (2025).
Irmelin consists of Eva Rune, Maria Misgeld and Karin Ericsson Back.
Sinnenas hus
(House of the senses)
IRMELIN, with their seventh album House of the Senses, invites the listener into a resonant house where each room has its own color, scent, and resonance. Rooted in Nordic folk music and with a strong sense for contemporary expression, the trio continues to renew the a cappella tradition, creating music that moves and tells stories.
Irmelin seeks to highlight the significance and power of the human voice — past and present — by exploring creative soundscapes. Twenty-five years as a group, seven album productions, and countless concerts both internationally and in Sweden. Three voices and arrangements that demand presence. Intimate and austere, yet deeply attentive to one another’s voices, they now sing songs inspired by the oral chorale tradition from Gammalsvenskby, Ukraine.
About the production
Reflections in memory of, and inspired by:
Katarina Utas, Anders (Andreas) Simonsson Hoas,
and Maria (Mare) Hoas, Gammalsvenskby, Ukraine.
All arrangements, lyrics, and melodic adaptations by Irmelin:
Eva Rune, Karin Ericsson Back, Maria Misgeld.
Recorded and mixed by Otto Wellton, Kingside Studio, Gnesta 2024/2025
Mastered by Claes Persson, CRP
Photography: Maria Uhr
© & ℗ 2025 Misgeld Music
Released with support from The Swedish Arts Council
Release date: October 11, 2025
Format: Digital, CD
CONSERT
Irmelin’s concert Sinnenas hus takes its form from the group’s album of the same name. The songs draw inspiration from the sung chorale tradition in Gammalsvenskby, Ukraine, and are performed through a blend of unison singing, multi-part harmonies, kulning, and improvised vocal textures.
The pieces shift between stillness, movement, and unexpected turns, always with a focus on the possibilities of the voice and the interplay between the three singers.
The standard format for Sinnenas hus is approximately 60 minutes, though the duration can be adjusted if needed.
The concert is available for booking in 2026 and 2027.
COURSE & WORKSHOP
Irmelin has extensive experience in developing concert programs together with choirs. Irmelin teaches parts of their repertoire and then performs it at one or more concerts together with the choir.
All material is taught by ear, i.e. without sheet music. No piano is needed as all songs are a capella. There is also the possibility of shorter workshops with Irmelin members as leaders.
Get in contact for more information.
REVIEWS
- from live concerts and albums
About the album Sinnenas hus (House of the senses)
(...)As on their previous recordings, the songs and folk melodies are performed primarily a cappella. The result is altogether beautiful, professional, and enchantingly atmospheric, with an exquisite mix that truly impresses. The album opens with unison singing that gradually breaks into canonic parts in a deliberate and thoughtful way, and the music shines brightest when it plays with these kinds of contrasts.(...)
Rebecka O'Nils, LIRA
(...) Okay, Irmelin's album Upp, their fifth, is good, really good. It shows that traditional music can develop without destroying the original. Because that's what Irmelin (Eva Rune, Karin Ericsson Back and Maria Misgeld) do, they develop. (...)
Thomas Wihlman, OPULENS - Sweden's daily cultural magazine
(...)They often perform their own arrangements of old, often traditional songs. They do so with great freedom and with a curious way of relating to traditions. There is always a presence, a movement in their music, a dancing tone, sliding dramatizations and laughing phrasing. There are individual voices in the trio, but what prevails is a harmony. And the soundscape is straight, clear and strong. (...)
Bo Bjelvehammar, LIRA
(...)With five albums and twenty years of sound behind them, Irmelin are veterans of Swedish folk song. Eva Rune, Karin Eriksson Back and Maria Misgeld take us on the new CD with 15 diverse tracks. Their own and others', new and traditional. The singing is crystal clear, elegant and sometimes impulsive and bold. Professional, lively folk singing that feels contemporary. (...)
Peter Ahlbom, Spelmannen
(...)They have collected many thought-provoking lyrics on the album. The singing is excellent, not to mention the sounds and harmonies. Listening is like sitting in a small cabin where they sing a refrain rather than a choir performing ballads - condensed and enchanting! (...)
Bengt Wittgren, Hembygden
(...)I think it is their best and sharpest album that meets the Swedish folk soul. Vocal music of the kind Irmelin makes is as beautiful and strong as can be. Thank you for this musical performance. (...)
Micheles Kindh, Blanskans vänner