Mats Eilertsen: 1
Hemli Records

Norwegian bassist Mats Eilertsen has left his mark on more than 100 recordings, many issued under his own name but a great number by other artists too; as experienced on the stage as in the studio, he's toured with his own trio as well as those of Håkon Kornstad and Jacob Young. Having established himself as one of Norway's most renowned musicians, he here presents his artistry in its purest form with a solo double bass album, its title suggesting it's the first in a projected series. Recorded in Eidsvoll between 2023 and 2024, the seventeen-track collection of improvised and composed settings appears on his own Hemli Records imprint and features Eilertsen exploring the full range of the instrument's possibilities and extending it, albeit subtly, with electronics (see the ghostly textures shadowing the bowing on “Monument,” for example).

A solo double bass album is hard to pull off, but Eilertsen's technique and imagination work handsomely in this case. Rather than grandstanding, he uses all the resources at his command in the service of concise and thoughtfully composed pieces. Often wielding the bow, he presents the material in song-like forms and utilizes chords, pizzicato, harmonics, and overtones to create evocative, self-contained statements, some exuding a pronounced folk-like character. The plaintive strains of “Åpning” provide a representative sampling of the album's tone and character. Bowed chords imbue the three-minute performance with a hymnal quality, the result a probing, inward-looking examination. A similarly meditative air informs “Kvernstein,” after which sawing-like motions with the bow give “Bukkeritt” a boost of energy and thrust. Whereas some selections feature the bow exclusively, Eilertsen plucks through the contemplative “Rast” and “Plukk,” his breathing as much a sound element as the instrument itself.

The range of timbres he coaxes from the instrument is at times arresting. In some pieces, it takes on a rather flute- and even saxophone-like character, and when he bows in an upper register it can resemble a violin or violin; a moment or two arises in “Virvel” when it even begins to suggest a shakuhachi (in that regard, Eilertsen's similar to fellow Norwegian Arve Henriksen, whose trumpet sound has been likened to the Japanese bamboo flute). He often eschews soloing to concentrate solely on voicing melody, during “Spinn,” for example, with its emphasis on folk figures. Whereas “Sprekk” creaks and groans like some storm-whipped galleon, a Middle Eastern sensibility permeates “Østavind” when the bow is used to generate ululating wails. Eilertsen is such a commanding presence on his instrument that pieces as stripped-to-the-bone as “Stamme” and “Vandring” fully hold the listener's attention.

May 2025