Label: Room40

1983年1st [Filth]からSWANSの主要メンバー/ギタリストとして参加しているNorman Westberg。ソロ活動ではHallow Ground、更にはマニアには知られたカセットレーベルAlien Passengersにも実験録音を残している。SWANSがツアーでオーストラリアを訪れた時からの付き合いだという、Lawrence English主宰のRoom40からは4作目となるアルバム[Milan]をリリース。流動的な動きを特徴する、まばらなギターリフで紡がれるアブストラクトな音響群。広大な水面を思わせる7曲編成。



Matte Laminate, embossed and monochome printed sleeve with insert card.

He’d been in Australia a few years before that, touring The Seer with Swans, and it was during this tour that I’d had the fortune to meet him. Since that time Norman and I have worked on a number of projects together. He very kindly played some of the central themes on my Cruel Optimism album and I had the pleasure to produced his After Vacation Album.

Last year Norman shared a multichannel live recording with me from a tour where he was supporting Swans. The recording instantly transported me back to the first time I heard Norman perform.

Whilst many people know his more dynamic and tectonic playing associated with his band practice, Norman’s solo work is far more fluid. Often, when I hear him live, I imagine a vast ocean moving with a shimmer, as wind and light play across its surface.

Norman’s concerts are expeditions into just such a place. They are porous, but connected, a kind of living organism that is him, his instrument and his effects. He finds ways to create moments of connection which are at times surprising, and at others slippery, but always rewarding.

There’s a deeply performative way to his approach of live performance. There’s a core of the song that guides the way, a map of sound, but there’s also an extended sense of curiosity that allows unexpected discoveries to emerge.

Milan, which I had the pleasure to work on for Norman, captures this sense perfectly. It is a record that exists in its own right, but is of course tethered to his other works. It’s an expansive lens which reveals new perspectives on familiar vistas.