PRESS TEXT

No Right No Left is the first solo album of drummer Andreas Wildhagen. Recorded in Wildhagen's practice room in late July 2016, it explores different expressions and levels of energy. The music is improvised, still certain ideas can be traced throughout the record.

In order to eliminate right and left, one has to imagine a view which is not rooted in a subject or object. If we lack a reference point, right and left disappears. Right and left, good and bad permeate society, but music itself can step outside of this. This record is 40 minutes of drums moving through different sonic and rhythmic territories. Most of the time it is rhythmic/gestural, often super-imposing two or more tempos at the time.

With a few exceptions, the titles are a play on perspectives (for example "Close-up" and "Bird's Eye"), visualizing the material from different places. This kind of thinking also applies to rhythm and duration. What we perceive as fast may be ultra slow-motion from a different point of view. The music on the record is messing around with this kind of ideas and thinking.

TRACK LIST
1. Close-up
2. Bird's Eye
3. Not in Any Place in Particular and Thus in All Places at Once
4. Grasshopper
5. No Left
6. Rivers in My Arms
7. South-North

PERSONNEL
Andreas Wildhagen - drums and percussion

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REVIEWS

Eyal Hareuveni - Salt Peanuts

Young Norwegian drummer Andreas Wildhagen is a highly versatile musician with an investigative instinct. He is less than 30 years old but already has played with the free-improvisation Lana Trio, modern jazz groups Mopti and Jonas Cambian Trio, fellow drummer Paal Nilssen-Love Large Unit and the experimental Nakama quartet.

«No Right No Left» is Wildhagen debut solo album, recorded in his private practice room on late July 2016. The seven improvised pieces explores different sonic and rhythmic expressions and levels of energy. As on other releases of Nakama, Wildhagen too asks the listener to dismiss its judgemental approach and attempt to «imagine a view which is not rooted in a subject or object», one that is beyond right and left, right and wrong.

Wildhagen improvisations does not attempt to gain the listener’s attention with commanding technique or boundless energy, but to offer diverse perspectives-visualizations that are the basis for his improvisations. Obviously, «Close Up» focuses on straight ahead and dense energy while «Bird’s Eye» is more sparse and suggestive with its story-like atmosphere. «Not in any Place in Particular and thus in All Places at Once» is more trickier, as it moves intuitively between rhythmic fragments and fractured pulses. The brief «Grasshopper» is playful and inventive while the powerful «No Left» sound as Wildhagen homage to mentor Nilssen-Love. Wildhagen masterful versatility and investigative-inventive instincts are best captured on the last two improvisations, «Rivers in My Arms» and «South-North», both navigate freely in exotic and colorful sonic sceneries.

Terje Mosnes - Jazznytt

Den idé-betonte albumtittelen «No Right No Left»  tilhører Andreas Wildhagens debutalbum som soloartist, etter at trommeslageren i de siste åra har vært å høre på plater med bl.a Nakama, Mopti, Paal Nilssen-Love Large Unit, Jonas Cambien Trio og Momentum. «No Right No Left» består av sju «perkusjonsfortellinger», varierende i lengde fra halvannet til ni minutter og fortalt gjennom et trommespill der tempi, grader av intensitet og perkussive klangfarger virker å være vel så viktige parametere som puls og rytme. Jeg skriver «virker», for med mindre du kan lytte til en trommeslagers solomusisering med en dreven trommeslagers øre og forståelse for de finere nyanser og detaljer, vil lytteopplevelsen uvilkårlig fortone seg som krevende. Uten elementer som ordinær melodikk, harmonikk og samspillsdynamikk gir et trommealbum færre referansepunkter og krever dermed en annerledes lytting, rettet mer mot form, dramaturgi og en slags «undertekst» enn mot det umiddelbart hørbare. I så måte virker Andreas Wildhagen å ha full kontroll over sine «fortellinger», som han formidler med en teknisk sikkerhet og fortellervitalitet som gir musiseringen hans den autoriteten som trengs for å holde på denne ikke spesielt tromme-kyndige lytters oppmerksomhet gjennom tre kvarter.