The Squid's Ear Magazine


Ambarchi, Oren / Johan Berthling / Andreas Werliin: Ghosted III [VINYL] (Drag City)

Guitarist Oren Ambarchi, bassist Johan Berthling, and drummer Andreas Werliin return for their third ghost, expanding their collective language with looser and more immediate performances, their intricate focus and rhythmic precision balanced by playful excursions through ambient neo-jazz, post-kraut, minimal funk, and prog-like energy through an ever-evolving sonic architecture.
 

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product information:

Personnel:



Oren Ambarchi-guitar

Johan Berthling-bass

Andreas Werliin-drums


Click an artist name above to see in-stock items for that artist.




UPC: 781484095514

Label: Drag City
Catalog ID: DC 955LP
Squidco Product Code: 36542

Format: LP
Condition: New
Released: 2025
Country: USA
Packaging: LP
Recorded at Rymden, in Stockholm, Sweden, on December 10th, 11th and 12th, 2024, by Daniel Bengston.

Descriptions, Reviews, &c.
"The third time's the charm! Or perhaps -- the third time's another charming excursion into the seemingly infinite universe of rhythm spontaneously created whenever guitarist Oren Ambarchi, bassist Johan

"The third time's the charm! Or perhaps — the third time's another charming excursion into the seemingly infinite universe of rhythm spontaneously created whenever guitarist Oren Ambarchi, bassist Johan Berthling, and percussionist Andreas Werliin plug in together.

However you choose to look at it, several years into their collaborative endeavor, and a little more than a year on from Ghosted II, Ambarchi, Berthling and Werliin are back with a new finding, constituting fresh developments of their sound — if not their album-titling ambition (in other words, if you can't guess it's called Ghosted III, you're just not paying enough attention!).

In actuality, the sound of this trio has been all about new developments since they first started playing together. That's something to be simply expected when dropping the tonearm on any of their records, which is a very nice thing. There's also something to be said for constancy, especially when it produces such stimulating variations of tone and mood within the trio format. So, all good — since there wasn't anything broke, there was no need to fix it. Instead, just do it again.

With that credo, Ambarchi, Berthling and Werliin returned to Stockholm's Studio Rymden to continue the incredible standard of capture that distinguished both Ghosted and Ghosted II. Although they took more studio time than ever before (three whole days!), Ghosted III's new development is an increased immediacy in their performances, something a little looser and wilder than their first two albums — and something, no doubt, that's been developed by their encounters during the several dozen-plus gigs played since their debut.

Thus, their ability to lock in and focus, hanging on to the smallest of details, is here enhanced by an expansive lightness of being. Such potentially polar skill sets could well make for uneven chemistry — but in the hands of these three, a sparkling variety of new jams occurs.

They seem to be available to try anything these days, at times playing with the exuberance of prog-rockers or new-wave popsters, alongside the eternal energies of their established styles: ambient neo-jazz, postkraut, minimal funk.

In the end, their shared instinct shapes the varied emissions into structure reaching ever further into the ether — giving Ghosted III a singular quality belonging only to the trio that is Oren Ambarchi, Johan Berthling and Andreas Werliin."-Drag City

, and percussionist Andreas Werliin plug in together. However you choose to look at it, several years into their collaborative endeavor, and a little more than a year on from Ghosted II, Ambarchi, Berthling and Werliin are back with a new finding, constituting fresh developments of their sound -- if not their album-titling ambition (in other words, if you can't guess it's called Ghosted III, you're just not paying enough attention!). In actuality, the sound of this trio has been all about new developments since they first started playing together. That's something to be simply expected when dropping the tonearm on any of their records, which is a very nice thing. There's also something to be said for constancy, especially when it produces such stimulating variations of tone and mood within the trio format. So, all good -- since there wasn't anything broke, there was no need to fix it. Instead, just do it again. With that credo, Ambarchi, Berthling and Werliin returned to Stockholm's Studio Rymden to continue the incredible standard of capture that distinguished both Ghosted and Ghosted II. Although they took more studio time than ever before (three whole days!), Ghosted III's new development is an increased immediacy in their performances, something a little looser and wilder than their first two albums -- and something, no doubt, that's been developed by their encounters during the several dozen-plus gigs played since their debut. Thus, their ability to lock in and focus, hanging on to the smallest of details, is here enhanced by an expansive lightness of being. Such potentially polar skill sets could well make for uneven chemistry -- but in the hands of these three, a sparkling variety of new jams occurs. They seem to be available to try anything these days, at times playing with the exuberance of prog-rockers or new-wave popsters, alongside the eternal energies of their established styles: ambient neo-jazz, postkraut, minimal funk. In the end, their shared instinct shapes the varied emissions into structure reaching ever further into the ether -- giving Ghosted III a singular quality belonging only to the trio that is Oren Ambarchi, Johan Berthling and Andreas Werliin."-Drag City

Artist Biographies

"Oren Ambarchi is a composer and multi-instrumentalist with longstanding interests in transcending conventional instrumental approaches. His work focuses mainly on the exploration of the guitar, "re-routing the instrument into a zone of alien abstraction where it's no longer easily identifiable as itself. Instead, it's a laboratory for extended sonic investigation". (The Wire, UK).

Oren Ambarchi's works are hesitant and tense extended songforms located in the cracks between several schools: modern electronics and processing; laminal improvisation and minimalism; hushed, pensive songwriting; the deceptive simplicity and temporal suspensions of composers such as Morton Feldman and Alvin Lucier; and the physicality of rock music, slowed down and stripped back to its bare bones, abstracted and replaced with pure signal.

From the late 90's his experiments in guitar abstraction and extended technique have led to a more personal and unique sound-world incorporating a broader palette of instruments and sensibilities. On recent releases such as Grapes From The Estate and In The Pendulum's Embrace Ambarchi has employed glass harmonica, strings, bells, piano, drums and percussion, creating fragile textures as light as air which tenuously coexist with the deep, wall-shaking bass tones derived from his guitar.

Ambarchi works with simple constructs and parameters; exploring one idea over an extended duration and patiently teasing every nuance and implication from each texture; the phenomena of sum and difference tones; carefully tended arrangements that unravel gently; unprepossessing melodies that slowly work their way through various permutations; resulting in an otherworldly, cumulative impact of patiently unfolding compositions.

Ambarchi has performed and recorded with a diverse array of artists such as Fennesz, Otomo Yoshihide, Pimmon, Keiji Haino, John Zorn, Rizili, Voice Crack, Jim O'Rourke, Keith Rowe, Phill Niblock, Dave Grohl, Gunter Muller, Evan Parker, z'ev, Toshimaru Nakamura, Peter Rehberg, Merzbow and many more. Since 2004 Ambarchi has worked with American avant metal outfit Sunn 0))) contributing to many of their releases and side-projects including their Black One album from 2005 and the recent Monoliths & Dimensions release.

For 10 years together with Robbie Avenaim, Ambarchi was the co-organiser of the What Is Music? festival, Australia's premier annual showcase of local and international experimental music. The festival hosted over 200 local and international performers. Ambarchi now curates the Maximum Arousal series at The Toff In Town in Melbourne and has recently co-produced an Australian television series on experimental music called Subsonics. Ambarchi recently co-curated the sound program for the 2008 Yokohama Triennale."

-Oren Ambarchi Website (http://orenambarchi.com/category/biography/)
9/9/2025

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

"Johan Berthling (* 1973 in Stockholm ) is a Swedish jazz and improvisational musician ( contrabass , electric bass , also piano ).

Berthling studied at the Royal Music College in Stockholm from 1996-1998 . Since then, he has worked in the Swedish and international jazz and improvisation scene in various ensembles including David Stackenäs , Raymond Strid , Fredrik Ljungkvist , Sten Sandell , Paal Nilssen-Love , Akira Sakata , Mats Gustafsson , Jonas Kullhammar and the Christer Bothén Acoustic Ensemble. In the field of jazz, he was involved in 23 recording sessions between 1996 and 2014. He also worked with folkmusicist and songwriter Nicolai Dunger ( roasting och herren , 2007)."

-Wikipedia translated by Google (https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johan_Berthling)
9/9/2025

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

"Andreas Werliin (* 1982 ) is a Swedish drummer of creative jazz and new improvisational music .

Werliin, who grew up in Strömstad , studied at the Academy of Music and Drama in Gothenburg. There he met his wife, Mariam Wallentin , with whom he formed the duo Wildbirds & Peacedrums . The band presented several albums since 2007 and toured internationally, in 2008 it was awarded the Swedish Jazzact of the Year.

With Mats Gustafsson and Johan Berthling he formed the trio Fire! , Who went to Japantournee with Jim O'Rourke in 2010, and since 2013 for now (2016) four albums to the large format Fire! Orchestra. In 2010, Dan Berglund got him to his Tonbruket project, which then became a collaborative band, which was awarded the Gyllene Skivan in 2012 and the Jazzkattan in 2016."

-Wikipedia translated by Google (https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=de&u=https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andreas_Werliin&prev=search)
9/9/2025

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.


Track Listing:



SIDE A



1. Yek 9:40

2. Do 6:22

3. Seh 3:23

SIDE B



1. Chahar 6:13

2. Panj 8:48

3. Shesh 7:54

Related Categories of Interest:


Vinyl Recordings
Improvised Music
Free Improvisation
Electro-Acoustic
Electro-Acoustic Improv
European Improvisation, Composition and Experimental Forms
Australian Improvisers, Composers and Experimenters
Trio Recordings
New in Improvised Music
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Drag City.


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