Ask Carol Opened Up their Alt Indie Folk Universe in an Exclusive A&R Factory Interview –

Ask Carol is an alternative indie/folk rock duo from a remote mountain community in Norway, deep in the Norwegian woods. Ask Carol consists of Carol, lead singer and lead guitar player, who also plays trombone, loops, percussion and more, and Ask, on the drums, synth and guitar, often even at the same time. Ask Carol have toured in the US, UK, Germany, Italy, South Korea, Japan, Philippines, Sweden, Denmark and Norway. They released their debut album in 2022/23, and now they released their second album this November 2025. During COVID, they played music for the neighbors cows, and they’ve made a name for themselves with videos of them jamming out in the wild, with beautiful scenery as a backdrop.

How did you get started as a band?

Well, we, Carol and Ask, met, at something called Folkehøyskole here in Norway. It’s sort of a gap year between high school and college, where you have classes but no grades. After that we spent some years studying and talking about maybe some day starting a band, but it never happened. Then we moved to different cities, but some time later we ended up in the same city, Oslo, and that’s when we actually started to play and make music together. After a while we did our first ever concert, and since nobody knew that we made music, no family, no friends, we decided to do our first concert as far away as possible. So we played our first concert ever in Seoul, in South Korea. The rest is history, as they say.

How did you come up with the band name?

It’s kind of simple really, our band name is just our two first names… We spent a long time discussing and contemplating what we should call ourselves, but all the time the answer was right there in front of us. So, why not just use our first names? Ask and Carol, Ask Carol. Btw, Ask is an old Norwegian name, from the viking times and the norse mythology. Ask was the first human on earth, created by Odin, the god.

What is your favourite song to play live?

That must be «Tonight», because it’s uptempo and energetic and always gets the crowd going. We improvise a lot, it’s got looping, grooves and guitar solos, it’s so much fun to play and be spontaneous and mess around with the riffs and everything.

Who or what have been some of your biggest influences over the years?

Both of us started out as guitarists. Therefore, Jimi Hendrix has been one of our mutual influences. His extraordinary guitar playing, and cool sound is awesome. Outside of music, we may be influenced by everything from a good movie or TV show, to the trips and adventures we have had and all the beautiful nature and weird experiences we’ve had on tour.

What’s been one of the most memorable moments in your journey so far?

There’s been so many! From the amphitheater concert in Manila, in the Philippines, on Valentines day, which we thought would be only a small gathering but ended up being nearly 1500 people, to the first time playing the legendary SXSW festival that we had dreamed of since we were little.

You just released a new album, can you tell us more about it?

Yes, we just released our second album about a week ago! We’ve been working on this album the last few years, while we have also been touring almost non-stop. It’s called AC II: Desert Sky, and as the name suggests, it is very much inspired by the vast and magnificent desert landscapes of the South West of the US, just like our song “Desert”. Both on our US tour last year, and after playing SXSW in Texas the year before, we traveled through those desert landscapes and stopped to jam by the roadside many places. It is a magical place, it gives us a feeling of freedom and hope. It is a harsh environment, as well, but it’s something about it.

The album is also kind of a summary of an era in the Ask Carol world, with a few of our so-called Backyard Jams, including our version of the Neil Young song “Ohio”, as well as a few CowChella surprises. During Covid we often did these jams in our backyard, and one day the neighbors cows suddenly came running over. We hadn’t even noticed they were there. It went viral on TikTok, and we did more of those jams for the cows later, and called it “CowChella”. Since it was a big part of our whole vibe the last years, we decided to incorporate some of those original recordings into the album. (Photo attached is from one of those “CowChella” jams in the backyard.)

Why did you choose to release the album on Vinyl and CD as well?

It was important to us to release the album on vinyl and CD because we feel the digital streaming services and social media has taken the focus away from the music itself. Everything is about the algorithm, and pleasing the algorithm, and it’s oversaturated with ads and slop, and now you’ve got the AI as well. With the physical format, you get something concrete, something you can touch and feel, and you can look at it without looking at a screen, and you can listen to it without being distracted by ads or cat videos or whatever.

What’s next for you?

After touring almost non-stop for the last three or so years, as well as with our second album that just came out, it is time to get back in the studio and work on some new material. We just released our second album as well, so in the coming months we’ll get to work on the promo of the album, while also getting ready to start the next writing and studio period.

Next year, from the Spring/Summer, we will be back out on the road, so let us know where we should play then!

Stream the latest album from Ask Carol on Spotify now.

Interview by Amelia Vandergast