Andreas Røysum Ensemble – Fredsfanatisme
Catalogue number: MOT16LP
Release Date: October 15th, 2021

It is a great pleasure to present Motvind Records' first double album. One and a half years since its debut album, Andreas Røysum Ensemble returns with a burning follow-up that dig deep and reaches far - a breath-taking 75-minutes of close ensemble playing, howling solos and mysterious undertones. With a fine selection of Scandinavian jazz's young generation of musicians on board, this ship runs at full speed these days.

Audun Vinger portrays the music nicely in his enthusiastic liner notes:

«You can of course associate it with shamanistic, ethereal and, in the Norwegian sense of the word, spiritual jazz throughout music history when you hear the sounds on this album. Eastern inspiration and Ethiopian grooves as well. But there is also something undeniably Norwegian about the band's abstract expressionism, and what sticks in this forehead while listening to Fredsfanatisme is the awakened meeting between abstract modern art and something deeply rooted in Norwegian nature."

To get to the core, we leave the rest of this press text to the heart and keyboard of the well-articulated gentleman Andreas Røysum himself:

Magic can be defined as "the art of changing consciousness with the will" and a "targeted manipulation of energy". The uses of magic are threefold; it can be used to gain deeper insight into creation, to heal and change the self or to heal and change others. It becomes clearer and clearer to me as a musician that what we do is magic. I feel reverence for being able to take part in this tradition.

The physical record is a spiritual artifact. Some records have saved my life. Some records move me to tears, to ecstasy. Again and again, even if one thought I knew what was waiting for me. When I'm around my records I feel so much. I sense that I know all the love, sorrow, dedication and madness that lie behind the physical manifestations of some of creation's most beautiful vibrations. Of being able to do my best to contribute to this, for me perhaps the foremost symbol that soul and matter can happily meet, I scream with joy and gratitude!

Fortunately, I do not have to look for inspiration. The life experience strikes me as a rich work of art in itself, and I am incredibly lucky to have music, friends and unity around me in everyday life. It seems that as a result of my privileged position, where I have shelter, food and can spend my time diving into the Mysteries, I am a somewhat fertile musical soil. Music keeps popping into my head. At its own pace. These gifts, by will, become gifts that continue to give; I find that my wonderful fellow musicians breathe more and more life into my compositions every time we play together.

It is demanding to single out individual sources of inspiration, as I am so lucky that it is rather difficult not to be enchanted by the countless beautiful people who have contributed to building the music and love. The fuel that makes me work. All music I like has something in common. I love to feel heat. Happy to feel invited into marvellous landscapes that reconcile life's dualities, that breathe colour into me and my perception of life. Some of the ones who definitely enriched my life the most during the years this music originated are Anthony Braxton, Marvin Gaye, Vashti Bunyan, Roscoe Mitchell, Shirley Collins, Joseph Jarman, Jon Lucien, Leroy Jenkins, Hildegard von Bingen and Zia Mohiuddin Dagar.

I must also say that my dear fellow musicians Signe, Marthe, Henriette, Hans, Joel, John-Andrew, Christian and Ivar are enormous sources of inspiration. I stand not only on the shoulders of giants, but also side by side with them as far as I can hear. I rejoice that the ensemble's music and interaction has grown since the last time, and I am full of inspiration for what a future in such a company can bring with it of creative spiritual escapades.

Listening to “Fredsfanatisme" warms my heart. If this music can have the same uplifting function for someone out there in the future that some music has had for me, I am more than happy.

DETAILS
Personnel: Henriette Eilertsen - flute; Signe Emmeluth - alto saxophone; Marthe Lea - tenor saxophone; Andreas Røysum - compositions, clarinet, bass clarinet and double bass clarinet; Hans P. Kjorstad - violin; Joel Ring - cello; John Andrew Wilhite-Hannisdal - double bass; Christian Meaas Svendsen - double bass; Ivar Myrset Asheim - drums and percussion

Recorded by Magnus Skavhaug Nergaard at Flerbruket on 25 and 26 February 2021
Mixed by Magnus Skavhaug Nergaard at Flerbruket
Mastering by Audun Strype, Strype Audio
Cover art by Kenneth Lien
Graphic design by Egil Kalman