Stian Westerhus & Pale Horses - Maelstrom (2014) [Hi-Res]

Tracklist

01. Don't Say That You Care
02. Nights and Sleepless Days
03. Bed on Fire
04. On and On
05. Times Like These
06. Chasing Hills
07. Maelstrom


Who says experimental musicians can't play pop Norway's Stian Westerhus is best known as one of Northern Europe's most fascinating abstract guitar stylists. His recent album Didymoi Dreams with vocalist Sidsel Endresen was a fascinating pairing of extreme guitar abuse with gibbering vocal explosions. As well as collaborations with Puma, Terje Isungset, Nils Petter Molvr, Jaga Jazzist, the Britten Sinfonia and others, he has released three acclaimed solo albums on Rune Grammofon since 2009, the latest being the stunning The Matriarch And The Wrong Kind Of Flowers (2012). Stian now admits he's wanted to form a proper ' band for several years, and now he is exhibiting a totally different side of his musical personality. In Pale Horses, an electronic rock trio formed with keyboardist ystein Moen and drummer/percussionist Erland Dahlen, songs are given the freedom to ebb, flow, elongate and contract, much like a more improvised set. Breaking out of a verse-chorus mould, debut album Maelstrom is a deluge of fluid and highly emotive tracks that rely on the superb musicianship and unforgettable vocals of the leader, who proves himself capable of expressing pain and joy in equal measure. I've been wanting to bring together my way of working with improvised music to this huge side of my music which circles around more traditional tune structures and melodies, says Stian. The idea was to write really clear simple stripped down tunes and bring them into this trio format with players who I've played hundreds of gigs with and to be honest are two of the most open-minded musicians I have ever had the pleasure of playing with . The idea is to have everyone know the tunes so well that you can stop playing the them as they were meant initially and what comes out is a shadow or a reflection of the tunes, just as fresh and tenderly played as any improvised music.

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