johan arrias

Akiyama/Arrias

House concert in Bromma, Stockholm, 2013. Photo by Jan Nygård

Tetuzi Akiyama (JPN) ..............guitar

Johan Arrias (SE)...................alto sax 

Releases

Bromma, Spectropol Records,  released July 22, 2014

This is the unedited outcome of the impromptu meeting of Tetuzi Akiyama on acoustic guitar and Johan Arrias on alto saxophone, on a Sunday morning in a minuscule Stockholm living room. Having toured and recorded together years before in a quartet format with the formidable Gul 3, the musicians knew each other well, but this was their first duo session. No preset parameters here. After a glass of black coffee and slightly diverging words on the structure ­- one long piece or shorter ones? ­- Johan shoves a plastic bottle down the bell of his alto, Tetuzi strokes a string, and they’re off. No distinct melodies or rhythms, yet the music flows with a gentle insistency and retains a strong sense of direction and purpose throughout, its beauty heightened by moments of dissonance. At times reminiscent of a koto-­shakuhachi dialogue, the core feeling is one of deep trust and respect. Every note, every sound counts. In the room, in the moment. Slow breathing, just as Tetuzi had suggested.

- Jan Nygård

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"Spellbound. Genuine like, on many levels. Always surprising." -Jeff Gburek