Wooli Duo - Wooli Duo (2026) [Hi-Res]

Taiwanese pipa player Fan-Qi Wu and Norwegian drummer Michael Lee Sørenmo form WOOLI, a duo whose name reads the same across three languages (Chinese 無理, Korean 우리) while carrying a different meaning in each. Their music emerges from live dialogue between pipa and percussion: rather than treating East Asian tradition as a fixed form, the duo engages with it as shifting, evolving material, building their own fluid sonic language through improvisation.

Three years of work on the material resulted in a self-titled debut album of nine compositions. It was recorded at Epidemin Studio in Gothenburg between December 2024 and May 2025 with engineer Johannes Lundberg. The duo deliberately chose a live-session format — with almost no overdubs or post-production, the sole exception being the track "Human Voice" — to capture the same immediacy and energy that defines their live performances.

Guest musicians joined the recording: Italian organetto virtuoso Simone Bottasso, a member of Duo Bottasso, and award-winning South Korean bassist dongyi.

Fan-Qi Wu｜Pipa
Michael Lee Sørenmo ｜Drums
dongyi｜Double Bass
Simone Bottasso｜Organetto



Tracklist:
1-1 Wooli Duo - Dare to Wish [3:52]
1-2 Wooli Duo;dongyi - Colonial (feat. dongyi) [5:24]
1-3 Wooli Duo - Touch of the Spirit [5:10]
1-4 Wooli Duo;Simone Bottasso - Roots (feat. Simone Bottasso) [4:20]
1-5 Wooli Duo - Human Voice [4:15]
1-6 Wooli Duo - Traditional Rock [5:21]
1-7 Wooli Duo - Sketches [3:39]
1-8 Wooli Duo - When the Future Comes [1:28]
1-9 Wooli Duo - Facing [2:48]