Text by Sohrab Saadat Ladjevardi

I have played a couple of times with Swedish guitarist and a film, dance and theatre composer Anders Nilsson who moved from his native Sweden to New York in 2000. I like his guitar playing a lot. He is a unique and very versatile guitarist. In his playing I can hear that he cares about space, sound colors and dynamics. He’s also a very good listener and can respond to other musician’s playing instantly. His characteristic guitar playing can often be heard with singer Fay Victor. He has performed or recorded with artists such as William Parker, Sabir Mateen, Paquito D’Rivera, Eugene Chadbourne, Calvin Weston, Hamid Drake, George Schuller, John Sinclair, Angelblood and has composed music for film, dance and theatre.

His  solo album “Night Guitar” is coming out on the SoundatOne label by the end of this year. His friend Arrien Zinghini made a video to the track from the album “Breakfast Boogie/Nightmare Ballad” (watch above video). It was shot entirely on a Long Island beach after sunset on a series of cold April nights.

Let the man speak himself: The piece features all layered electric guitars. As the music came to life, in my mind the character of it was certainly cinematic and mood-driven and Arrien’s video certainly is on the same wavelength. Musically speaking, the content is sparse and dependent on repeated figures. Playing wise the piece calls for not forcing the proceedings but letting the music breathe, as usual.
Thematically it consists of two parts:
– awakening on a regular/unique morning with sensations, thoughts and imagery evolving at their natural pace.
– once risen from the awakening, the subconscious themes soon take over to reel and spiral one into the existential dream’s core and opaque, endless, powerful abode.

Who are the denizens at the bottom of the pit howling from below the well? Fantastic animals? A swarm of electric bees? Probably not….