WERL3 is an ad-hoc expansion of the WERL duo of Canadian guitarist Aidan Baker, known from the experimental noise band Nadja, and Swedish, Trondheim-based drummer Tomas Järmyr, member of the bands Motorpsycho and YODOK III, plus British bass clarinet player Gareth Davis, who also played in Nadja and collaborated with French cellist Frances-Marie Uitti and American guitarist Elliot Sharp. This special one-time-expansion of WERL was recorded live at the Moving Noises Festival at Christuskirche Bochum, Germany in February 2019.

The live set was completely improvised and channeled WERL sound into a powerful compound of post-jazz drone with subtle elements of noise and metal, often coming close to the ritualist-mysterious drones of YODOK III, but in a much more reserved manner. The dark, woody sound of Davis’ bass clarinet adds warm, almost chamber quality to this drone and flows organically with the atmospheric, effects-laden guitar lines of Baker and the nuanced pulse of Järmyr. This 40-minutes sonic beast slowly and methodically cooks its hypnotic and spacious wall of sounds until the inevitable cathartic coda. Then, WERL3 takes over the elaborate architecture of Christuskirche Bochum, where the three musicians stood in one wide line on the altar.

WERL3 comes in a limited-edition of 200 vinyls (plus download option) with two different colours: transparent orange and semi-transparent orange, with artwork by Baker.

Eyal Heruveni 

Aidan Baker (g), Gareth Davis (bcl), Tomas Järmyr (dr)