Goose Green is the Norwegian trio of young pianist and electronics player Joakim Rainer Petersen, alto sax and clarinet player (and educator) Klaus Ellerhusen Holm (of Paal Nilssen-Love Large Unit, Honest John, and Nakama), and double bass player Bjørn Marius Hegge (who leads his own band, Hegge). The trio’s title refers to the Spanish name for Goose Green, one of the main islands of the Falkland Islands, and the site of one of the largest land battles during the Falklands War in 1982 between the United Kingdom and Argentina. Ganso Verde – the green pygmy goose – belongs to a family of geese that breeds in southern New Guinea and northern Australia.
Ganso Verde is the debut album of Goose Green, which began working in 2020, and it was recorded with the trio’s musicians in the same room at Øra Studio in Trondheim in May 2025. Goose Green, true to its name, addresses conflicts, and not only reptilian, territorial ones. Its spontaneous music-making process attempts to suggest better, democratic, and peaceful processes to resolve such volatile conflicts, especially within the trio’s democratic dynamics, and in a way that sees such challenging conflicts as contributing to the trio’s musical diversity.
The music is free improvised, alternating between the patient and introspective to the urgent and almost subversive, and revolves around the individual and the collective choices the trio makes, but with enough space for individual resistance. It explores methodically precise yet enigmatic, asymmetric repetitive motifs, microtonality, extended breathing, bowing, and percussive techniques, and otherworldly, fragmented grooves. All rely on the strong individual voices, shared sonic curiosity and imagination, and deep affinity established during previous collaborations of Petersen, Holm, and Hegge. The last, title piece best captures the unique and unorthodox aesthetic of Goose Green.
Eyal Hareuveni
Joakim Rainer Petersen (piano, electronics), Klaus Ellerhusen Holm (alto saxophone, Bb clarinet, Bjørn Marius Hegge (double bass)
