Rorane showcases an adventurous blend of free improvisation and jazz-rooted exploration from Swedish experimental ensemble stalwarts. Recorded with bassist Nina de Heney, pianist Karin Johansson, and drummer Henrik Wartel, the project melds deep spontaneous interplay with Bothen's decades-spanning creative voice in avant-improvised music. A boundary-pushing sonic journey that reflects both the collective's empathic interplay and their shared drive toward expansive musical expression."-Relative Pitch

"Quagmire is the trio Heney, Johansson, Wartel. They are a cycle of sound in clear tones of the materials in their individual instruments. Over this slowly undulating movement, Bothén's searching, thoughtful clarinets float.

This is music as a kind of sound sculpture. Although it is in a way abstract, the concretion is very prominent. It is important to keep your ears on the different parts and enjoy how they play with each other. In this dialectic lies the absolute quality of the record.

Heavy flowing pulse in a rhythmic embroidery. With dark colors, Bothén draws a long line that sometimes bursts open. Listening — as if both giving in and giving the listener a hint to listen inwardly to follow along. The playing becomes strong sensory impressions that constantly shift. I liken it to a long inhalation — sometimes like holding your breath so as not to miss a small sound.

Soon enough, the superb playing over the entire register of the instruments comes to light. And occasionally culminates in strange encounters. For example, I think of how piano, percussion and clarinet pick apart, reassemble and bounce the music between them. The different sounds are weighed against each other to the milligram. Most often, individual notes are heard that unite with the other players. But they play together so tightly that it is difficult to separate them. However, details in the common sound structure soon come to light. Wartel's metallic phrases or dramatic drumming. Johansson's piano in different roles - sprinkling individual sounds or sound groups in Bothén's full and open sound or surprising with unexpected sound series. And all the time I experience a kind of hub in the music and that is Heney's bass. Now and then it rumbles with a few accents that push the entire sound picture forward, preferably in interaction with the dull sound of the drums, otherwise it lies there as a grinding, caressing, dull energy.

Some passages are reminiscent of the sound picture of electronics but with a more vulnerable surface. Because here all four musicians move in a sharp searching lowness that risks breaking at any moment. The music is like a fine-line drawing with dark skies and bright glints - of a landscape perhaps. Especially towards the end when the sound becomes sparser, duller, quieter to dissolve."-Thomas Millroth, Orkester Journalen (translated by Google)