“Gradually the elements gather into a shimmering, gently undulating mass that seems to advance and retreat when not entrancing as a slowly swelling supernova.”
-Textura (September 2023)
“…atmosphere so mysterious and dark that we might feel we entered a secret chamber to hear the time passing.”
-Ivana Popovic, The Whole Note (September 2023)
“The busier phrases of Fjóla Evans's "Augun" drift and detach from the central long notes, like blossoms from a tree trunk.”
-Claire Biddles, The Wire
“Of the stronger new pieces, Fjóla Evans’ In Bruniquel Cave uses multi-tracked violin to spin out a translucent veil of frail pitches.”
-Ben Harper, Boring Like A Drill (September 2023)
“‘Augun,’ by the superb Icelandic composer Fjóla Evans, is a deconstruction of the Icelandic folk tune “Vísur Vatnsenda Rósu.” Parts of the song are moved around and recast in a gorgeous tangle of colliding harmony and rhythm, generating a pensive meditation spiked with unexpectedly lyric fragments.”
-Peter Margasak, The Best Contemporary Classical on Bandcamp: July 2023 (August 2023)
Ashley Bathgate’s “8-Track” featuring Augun selected by David Weiniger: 5 Classical Music Albums You Can Listen to Right Now, The New York Times, (July 2023)
“…soundscape of bent tones gnarly with a ferocious energy…”
-Leslie Barcza, barczablog.com (June 2023)
“…a dreamy cavernous atmosphere that feels almost otherworldly.”
-Yaz Lancaster, Which Sinfonia (June 2023)
“‘Lava fields covered in blankets of moss’ - Premiere of the Month: Slow growth” mini-feauture on Moss in The Strad (February 2023)
“…seven cello parts are woven into a pulsating hive…”
-Textura (June 2022)
“The music, based in part on an Icelandic folk tune, hovers even as individual parts scurry and soar.”
-Peter Margasak, Bandcamp Daily (May 2022)
Ridge & Furrow featured as “one of the more striking works” off of VC2’s Beethoven’s Cellists album in this classical music roundup from CBC. - Robert Rowat: Here's the classical music you should be listening to this summer, CBC (June 2019)
"With Shoaling, Fjóla Evans creates a vivid and layered sound world saturated with nautical imagery ... the rumbling ocean of sound gives way, revealing a trace consonant harmony that lingers, suspended. After this brief moment of stasis, the music quickly turns more active, with a chugging bass part, arpeggiated material on the piano, and shimmering and splashy percussion. A darkness grows as the harmonic material turns dissonant and menacing, carrying through to the end of the piece." - Tristan McKay, I CARE IF YOU LISTEN review of Bearthoven's Trios (December 2017)
"'Fray' from Fjóla Evans uncurled single-tone string lines as warnings: the piece ballooned into a true aural fray, and the seven instrumentalists blew, struck, and bowed ferociously at the work’s midpoint. Before fraying into silence, Daniel Linden’s round trombone tones drooped downward in mournful spurts and the warm legato tones of Sarah Goldfeather’s violin offered quiet empathy." - Lana Norris, I CARE IF YOU LISTEN, review of Exceptet concert (June 2015)
"The subtly evocative composition (Shoaling) hints at a more symphonic soundworld, with its entrancing harmonic textures, percussively rumbling timbres, and slow, stretching tempos." - Daniel J. Kushner, I CARE IF YOU LISTEN Magazine interview with Bearthoven (May 2015)
"The first performer, Fjóla Evans, an Icelandic-Canadian cellist, quietly and expertly drew out long and mournful pieces with her bow while a black and white wedding scene involving a person wearing a stag’s head played in the background—a disturbing, yet calming combination of image and sound." - Pepper and Vine, review of solo cello and electronics set at Cluster New Music + Integrated Arts Festival, (April 2015)
"The concert opened on an auspicious note with the trio Bearthoven ... slowly and meticulously swaying their way through the stygian whispers and then horror-stricken swells of Evans’ Shoaling, an illustration of long wave motion. Pianist Karl Larson, percussionist Matt Evans and bassist Pat Swoboda established a murky, minimalist ambience that grew and grew until those waves were about to dash the theme on a jagged, rocky shore. It couldn’t have ended more perfectly, as the wail of an ambulance echoed down Kingsland Avenue outside. Starkly ambitious and genuinely profound, it instantly put Evans on the map as someone to keep an eye on." - Lucid Culture, (May 2014)
"Time ticks by. In the background, Fjola Evans saws mournfully away on a cello that’s electronically amplified," - The New York Times, (January 2014)