Willems Lilja Mann: Trio with Members of Monolord and Here Lies Man Posts “Transatlantic Explorations” Video
I’d take an album of this happily, and I don’t imagine it would be much more trouble than is apparent here to make one happen, which doesn’t look like much trouble at all, unless you count the cross-continental logistics. Willems Lilja Mann is an exploratory trio featuring in its ranks Gothenburg-based drummer Esben Willems of Monolord and Studio Berserk, synthesist Marcus Lilja of the experimentalist Eyemouth, who worked closely with Willems on February’s A Headlong Fall into the Vast Ocean of Anxiety and who shares space with the studio, and multi-instrumentalist Geoff Mann, known for his work in Los Angeles afrobeat-infused heavy rockers Here Lies Man, who reside on RidingEasy Records, which is the same label that put out the first three Monolord albums.
Thus the connections between the players are multidimensional, and hey, it’s cool the way connections can be made across borders and styles in the underground, and more generally speaking, I hear it’s really nice to have friends, but fun as it is to connect those dots, it’s “Transatlantic Explorations” itself that’s the focus here, Lilja hitting up his wall-sized, many-plugged synth while Willems and Mann frame either side of the video, the latter also filling out the arrangement with punches of doubly-layered flutes that offer melodic complement to the dual-drummer rhythm, all of it resulting in instrumentalist semi-psych jazz fluidity that’s fleshed out across the song’s four minutes, the ultimate sound lush and maybe a bit inherently indulgent if one takes it at face value, but immersive nonetheless and not leaving the listener behind as it embarks on the mini-journey.
Could be a one-off, could be a side-project, could be that the video doesn’t even exist and I’m living in an alternate reality where it does; the universe hosts infinite possibilities playing out in infinite succession. Entirely possible they made it as a means to promote their other work in the age of algorithmic content demand. One way or the other, Willems Lilja Mann‘s “Transatlantic Explorations” offers a reminder that what genuinely matters most is what’s happening now rather than what could or could not follow, and whether or not these three players do anything else in collaboration, the vibrancy of what they’ve created here is resonant and engaging. It’s a cool sound. I dig it. Maybe you will too if you’re up for giving it a shot.
To wit:
Willems Lilja Mann, “Transatlantic Explorations”
Esben Willems on “Transatlantic Explorations”:
This impromptu sudden collab stems from an amazing snippet of a pulsating modular synthesizer soundscape created by Marcus Lilja, the brilliant mind who’s permanently residing in one room in my studio. It sparked instant inspiration, I asked if I could add some drums and subsequently asked Geoff Mann if he’d like to add some of his magic to it all. And suddenly we apparently made this little laidback groove nugget. I love unexpected creations like this, it’s both heart and brain fuel.
Drums left: Esben Willems
Modular synthesizers: Marcus Lilja
Flutes and drums right: Geoff Mann
Mixed and mastered at Studio Berserk by Esben Willems.
Esben: https://linktr.ee/studioberserk
Marcus: https://linktr.ee/allharmonicsstudio
Geoff: https://linktr.ee/geoffmann
That is rather lush, I could take an album of that as well JJ.
[…] mind who’s permanently residing in one room in my studio,” said Willems in a comment to The Obelisk. “It sparked instant inspiration, I asked if I could add some drums and subsequently asked […]
[…] mind who’s permanently residing in one room in my studio,” said Willems in a comment to The Obelisk. “It sparked instant inspiration, I asked if I could add some drums and subsequently asked […]
[…] who’s completely residing in a single room in my studio,” stated Willems in a remark to The Obelisk. “It sparked prompt inspiration, I requested if I might add some drums and subsequently […]