"Maelstrom", the title of Stian Westerhus' new album, is the program: The guitarist and singer touches on it a bubbling mixture of styles, which fascinates again and again and draws the listener into itself. The Norwegian directs his band Pale Horses, which consists of keyboarder Øystein Moen and drummer Erland Dahlen, through experimental, psychedelic and prog waters and refines the whole thing with his expressive vocals, reminiscent of Jeff Buckley, Scott Walker and Chris Martin. As a child Westerhus discovered his passion for music.
He soon became enthusiastic about Jimi Hendrix, King Crimson and jazz before enrolling in music studies at London's Middlesex University. Westerhus, who worked with Nils Petter Molvær, Sidsel Endresen and the nu jazz band Jaga Jazzist, fulfilled a dream with the band Pale Horses: "I wanted to do this trio project with my favourite musicians a long time ago, but a year ago I couldn't foresee how the album would develop - with all the influences I wanted to integrate into my music. On my iPod you can find everything: from Bach to House to Death Metal, but also modern classical and pop music. Erland and Øystein also hear a lot of different things. If we were DJs, we'd probably be the most eclectic DJs there ever was. But we also improvised a lot together."
