The Squid's Ear Magazine

Pettersen, Ed

The Problem With Livia

Pettersen, Ed: The Problem With Livia (Orbit577)

Given the chance to perform in the dark fresco-covered room of the Emmanuel Vigeland Mausoleum and museum in Oslo, Norway, guitarist Ed Petterson brought his 8-string Weissenborn guitar, various keyboards and a modular synth, using the pensive atmosphere of the location to trace spacious and exploratory works through 15 varied and succinct improvisations.
 

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Personnel:



Ed Pettersen-guitar, keyboards, modular synth


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UPC: 755491217375

Label: Orbit577
Catalog ID: CD-ORB5-OR5031
Squidco Product Code: 31203

Format: CDR
Condition: New
Released: 2021
Country: USA
Packaging: Digipack
Recorded in Nashville, Tennessee, on November 24th, 2020 by Ed Pettersen.

Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

"In 2019, guitarist Ed Pettersen was given the opportunity to explore the incredible acoustic space of the Emmanuel Vigeland Mausoleum in Oslo, Norway, a dark room covered in frescos of naked figures, with his electric lap steel guitar. As something that had mainly been a bucket list experience, the opportunity represented both a satisfying accomplishment and a deeply spiritual, haunting experience.

The freedom of the mausoleum's arching, hallowed space is paralleled in the exploratory wandering of Pettersen's guitar, moving with confidence and curiosity through the abstract. The tracks, played on his 8-string Weissenborn guitar, keyboards and modular synth are both relaxed and intense, making equal uses of silence and clarity of sound.

Pettersen is not usually drawn to playing solo, preferring the energy of collaboration-and hadn't been planning to play again until French improvisor Christian Vasseur asked me to contribute to his weekly pandemic collaborations in November 2020. After recording for Christian, Pettersen let the tape roll, and this project documents the winding and wistful improvisations created in memory of his experience at the mausoleum."-Orbit577


Artist Biographies

"As an artist, Pettersen has worked long and hard to develop his craft and in doing so has achieved a depth and sophistication that is just now being recognized. An emerging Americana artist in the 90's still driven by the twin influences of Springsteen and the country rebel artists of his youth, Pettersen gained attention for his second release "Somewhere South of Here". Steeped in Americana and country rhythms, the album fell somewhere between the traditional sounds of Americana and the rocking slide guitar of country radio and the tongue in cheek single "DWIOU" (Driving While Intoxicated on You) found a place in jukeboxes worldwide and on the country line dance charts.

But Pettersen's passion for music of all genres was unlimited and led to forming the rock band The Strangely's with friend and drummer Pete Abbott, his brother Mike (one of the finest guitar players Ed knows to this day), and bass player Lori Adams. Despite the great sound of the band, without label support and the inability to tour widely, the Strangely's drifted apart leaving Pettersen with two of his finest rock cuts, the moody and dark "Broken Mirror" and the plaintive "Justine". Around the same time a mysterious illness hit Pettersen hard, sending him through a long odyssey of doctors and hospitals, and being felled by acute physical pain for which there was no visible cause. Temporary paralysis of the vocal chords was a recurring symptom and so for several years Pettersen concentrated on songwriting and production, producing the quirky and gorgeous voiced duo Rosasharn and developing the concept for the Song of America.

An innate drive to hone his craft and work with the best of the best led Pettersen to Nashville in 2002. There, working with the best meant assembling a crack recording unit dubbed The Great American Rhythm section, featuring Reggie Young, Bob Babbitt, Dave Hungate, Catherine Marx, and Ed Greene on drums. The unit played a key role in many of the recordings for Song of America and other Pettersen productions. The only explanation that Pettersen could come up for why they convened at will when called was "They liked to play with each other and I didn't tell them what to do. Am I going to tell Reggie Young who has more number one hits than any guitar player how to play?" So while other songwriters were networking with country artists in town, Pettersen started getting cuts like his marvelous "I Guess We Shouldn't Talk About That Now," on Bettye LaVette's Grammy nominated 2007 The Scene of the Crime and "I Don't Want Anything" on Candi Staton's Who's Hurting Now?, from 2009. The latter includes one of the most delicate and poignantly beautiful lines of all time "Like the beauty of a child's smile, the future on an angel's wing".

In just the last few years Pettersen has re-emerged as a full-fledged recording and touring artist and in the meantime his voice and talents have grown tremendously. Discovering his Norwegian roots and Scandinavian heritage is the catalyst for the hauntingly melodic acoustic tunes on I Curse the River of Time. But it is the amalgamation of his early years honing a few well-crafted words in advertising, working with playwright and mentor John Bishop, trying a hand at film production, overcoming hardship and illness, and through it all constantly studying music, art, literature, and life that makes Pettersen an artist of note and a poet worth discovering."

-Ed Pettersen Website (https://www.edpettersen.com/bio)
3/27/2024

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


Track Listing:



1. The Problem With Livia 3:12

2. Get Out of Here 4:39

3. Completely Unaware 3:04

4. Facts Don't Lie 8:12

5. C'mon, C'mon, C'mon 1:52

6. Can It Really Be You 3:00

7. Gimme' a Break 2:09

8. Green, Green, Green 1:32

9. If I Had a Dollar 2:06

10. It Doesn't Matter Anymore 3:59

11. Let's Go to the Video 1:56

12. Like I Used To 3:36

13. Stop Me if You've Heard This 2:17

14. Stop, Wait, Don't 1:56

15. We Are the Sunset 1:44

Related Categories of Interest:


Improvised Music
Free Improvisation
Electro-Acoustic
Electro-Acoustic Improv
Guitarists, &c.
Piano & Keyboards
Solo Artist Recordings
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