Äventyr by Anders Nilsson

Guitar duets composed and performed by Anders Nilsson on electric and acoustic guitars. Guise Guys has added overdubs.

Artist's statement: "This is an album of music for two guitars. I've had a new desire for writing and recording pieces that transgress what I can do as a single guitarist, imagining it played as 4-handed piano music, or on kora, or by a string quartet. Composing these pieces started at the beginning of the pandemic, both in NYC and at a farm on the countryside. I envisioned the music taking on an expansive sound world of tones and ideas and at the point of recording it I found it suitable to play all the parts myself as opposed to inviting a second player (though that may happen live). The final touches on the sound came together with Elliott Sharp's wonderful engineering and understanding, creating a cinematic view of the sound. I hope the listener will have his or her own Äventyr (adventure) with it. -Anders Nilsson

Äventyr will be available late Spring 2022 in a limited edition 12" LP pressed on 180 g vinyl

Anders Nilsson’s Äventyr, a recording of recently-composed guitar duets (in this case performed by two Anders), is a patiently unfolding wonderland of guitar possibilities. Utilizing mostly pristine guitar tones, this work often shimmers like crystal - delicate but not fragile - with the kind of “dissonance” I call “beauty”. Sonorities are masterfully combined, dynamics subtly shift as these rather episodic pieces patiently expand and explore. A kind of chamber work that manages to be both intimate and epic, revealing interior realms while still shredding just a bit… Irresistible.
- Nels Cline

Listening to Anders Nilsson's new opus for guitar brought to my mind the introspective pleasure of walking in a forest, or perhaps walking on city streets just before sunrise, immersed in a solitude and silence which aren't threatening, but rather meditative and soulfully energizing. Changing scenarios of musical episodes follow each other with the logic/illogic of thoughts moving from one area to the other, eventually evaporating into new ones. These pieces seem to reflect the mood of the times we've been living in under Covid19, everyone isolated in their own private spaces but yearning for the normality of social life. Anders used his time in a creative way to persevere in the creation of art instead of giving in to the despair of pointlessness which continues to hang over the global artistic community like a damocles sword.

Anders plays both electric and acoustic guitars, and his use of harmonics is especially personal and innovative. Episodes of these harmonic clouds lead to tightly coordinated events with overtones of middle-eastern melodies or alternative rock energies, which in turn melt into other unforeseen scenarios, yet the music never feels restless or rushed. In contrast to many guitar records, this one is likely to bear repeated listening. 
- Raoul Björkenheim

Anders Nilsson is a guitarist and composer of astonishing skill and range. Whether composing intricate and beautiful pieces for his own guitars; writing and playing jazz with such artists as Fay Victor, Paquito d'Rivera, and Jason Kao Hwang; playing psych-rock with The Why; or writing for string quartet, film, or theater, his distinctive voice shines through.