BITOI

BITOI (Bass Is The Original Instrument) is a Swedish-Danish hybrid of bass and voices, bringing together award-winning composer and bassist Cassius Lambert and vocalists Alexandra Shabo, Lydia Cronberg and Ella Cronberg. Despite its compact lineup, BITOI produces a rich and extremely precise sound. The female trio combines raw power with delicate textures, layering close harmonies and dissonances over deep, pulsating bass lines. Their lyrics, drawn from phonetically transcribed birdsongs, become chants that sound at once ancestral and contemporary. Formed in Malmö for the Intonal Festival 2023, BITOI has already performed at festivals such as Roskilde, Le Guess Who?, Rewire, WOMAD, Way Out West, Clandestino, Babel XP and Stanser Musiktage, in addition to touring Japan with Aragaki Mutsumi. In parallel, the group has also created commissioned works for theater, dance, sculpture and film. In 2025, it was named Newcomer of the Year at the DMA, and in 2026 it received a Swedish Grammy nomination. Their debut EP, – O – , was released in 2023, followed by the first album, Sirikulu, in 2025, on the Supertraditional Records label. BITOI embodies Cassius's maximalism — extracting the richest possible sound from the most elementary tools: bass, voices, polyrhythms and prepared textures — pushing minimalism to its limit.