Joe Westerlund :: Curiosities from the Shift
Photo: Graham Tolbert
There isn’t much that the Durham, North Carolina-based multi-instrumentalist, composer, and all-around savant of sound can’t do. Whether it’s participating in Califone, various projects with Phil Cook, the pre-Bon Iver collective DeYarmond Edison, or sitting behind the tonal throne of his most recent project with Nathan Bowles, and Jaime Fennelly, Setting, Joe Westerlund is one talented guy, and while some wonder where it all comes from, only he knows where it’s all going. Coming off the harmonious high of Setting’s brand new album “at Public Records” that was released earlier this month, Westerlund returns with a splintering songbook that has been calmly percolating under the sonic surface like some liberating lifeform dying to see the light. A follow-up to 2023’s “Elegies For The Drift,” “Curiosities from the Shift” is a spellbinding effort that effortlessly evaporates into the melodic mist like some mysterious melody wrapped around its listener’s ear with a sonic strength that should never be underestimated. Pulling from the poetic palace of self-exploration and trepidation textures, Westerlund breathes into a rudimentary, rich landscape that would otherwise be silent, and blinding with a light so bright and shapeless that you would have to use a nearby cloud or tree top to protect your eyes from its never-ending glare. One of the most exciting elements of venturing into soloist territory, especially for Westerlund, whose radical roster is impeccable, is the momentary momentum of isolation and critical contemplation on exactly what’s within you. “Curiosities from the Shift” takes the driver’s seat and punches the aluminum accelerator to the floor of an atmospheric aircraft, whose cosmic coordinates are set for something spatial and intimately interstellar.
“Can Tangle was the third and final track from the Califone bin, and possibly the most joyful in my mind. If working on ‘Nu Male Uno’ was somewhat a comfort blanket at the onset of my divorce, ‘Can Tangle’ is the celebratory emergence of my new experiences in romance, love and sexuality. It actually started as two separate beats in the same tempo.”
Confidently combining the elements of jazz, fusion, and ritualistic rhythms to an already sophisticated soundscape prone to enlightening anyone who dares to venture into its gracious glow, Westerlund plunges into the dynamic depths of his poetically pondering psyche, only to discover that the vastness of creation relies on the experience and investments in the journey into the self. With an exciting ensemble of musicians such as Tim Rutil, Trever Hagen, Libby Rodenbough, and Chris Jusell, to name a few, all bringing together their universal unity to Westerlund’s curious climate of natural world remedies, the album breaks that sinister silence apart like an atmospheric atom colliding with the melodies of the moon on a warm summer night. Like most fever dream adaptations, “Curiosities from the Shift” leans against the system of song by echoing into the brilliant emptiness a startling realization that community is everything, and music is just the eternal element that binds together those fleeting moments forever. Across the album’s twelve tracks, which tell sublime stories through complex composition and introspective innocence, a mindful meditation on humanity's finest moments unfolds. Produced and engineered by Westerlund himself, “Curiosities from the Shift” is set for release on his hometown label, Psychic Hotline, in late October, and is perhaps his best work to date. But don’t take it from us, buy the ticket, and take the ride if you’re not too afraid of heights.
https://joewesterlund.bandcamp.com/album/curiosities-from-the-shift
