Cherry Blossom is the debut solo double bass album of young Norwegian, Trondheim-based bassist-guitarist Nicolas Leirtrø, known for the bands I Like To Sleep, Teip Trio, and Amalie Dahl’s Dafnie. The album was recorded live to 2-track at the legendary Electrical Audio in Chicago in September 2024. The album is released in a limited edition cassette, which Leirtrø designed its cover artwork, plus a download option.
Leirtrø insists that there is nothing spectacular in his approach to the double bass. Just one day, one bass, one bow, one reel, and just pure feeling, focus, and spontaneity. The order of the seven free improvised pieces on the album is in the same order they were recorded.
Leirtrø wrestles with the double bass and explores the dark and woody, deep-toned timbres of the instrument and produces a minimalist, highly resonant drone on the opening «Organ». In the following pieces, Leirtrø demonstrates that is well-proficient in an array of extended bowing techniques that investigate multiphonics, sparse overtones, as well as different percussive approaches. He can make full use of the bull fiddle’s large body, and even make the double bass sing in a guttural voice on «Tugboat», or hum heavily on «Shooting Star». Leirtrø closes the album with the mysterious, otherworldly winds of «rewind».
Eyal Hareuveni
Nicolas Leirtrø (double bass)
