Legendary drummer Erland Dahlen releases new single from upcoming album.

When you’ve played on more than 300 albums, with a variety of artists including Norwegian Jazz legends such as NILS PETTER MOLVÆR, EIVIND AARSET, STIAN WESTERHUS and GEIR SUNDSTØL, together with bands and artists such as MADRUGADA, KAADA, JOHN PAUL JONES, ANE BRUN, ANNELI DRECKER, MARIT LARSEN and XPLODING PLASTIX, it’s inevitable that the desire to create and perform something of your own will emerge sooner or later. 

And indeed, so it was for legendary drummer ERLAND DAHLEN, who has joined with Is it Jazz? Records to release “Racoons”, his fifth studio album, demonstrating that not only is he a versatile artist who can adapt his skills to the needs of other musicians, but that he is also a solo artist renowned for his creative ideas. Ideas that make use of his his ablity to play a multitude of percussive instruments to create create a massive, intricately layered sound, that is unmistakably his own.

And today, ahead of it’s 27 October release, Is it Jazz? Records brings us a second track from “Racoons” to pique our interest in the album. Titled “Auto”, the track can be downloaded or streamed from a variety of sources at:

link.isitjazzrecords.no/ErlandDahlen_Auto

As Dahlen explains, “Auto” had unusual origins:

I based “Auto” on the drone from a Dulcimer Lute, which I combined with with drums/percussion, synth, voices and electronics. In the intro you can hear an old tape recording of the Folk singer Knut Slettetveit, which my father recorded  in the late 80’s. The title itself is an homage to the Kraut Rock era .

When he started recording his own music, Dahlen’s original idea had been to release just one solo album, this being 2012’s “Rolling Bomber”. However, things didn’t go quite to plan, and  his solo work became more significant to him, something for which his fans are grateful. 

For his latest album, Dahlen both made, and used, a lot of unique instruments, as he explains:

On “Racoons” I play a lot of custom-made instruments. Lars Hurlen has built different log drums for the album, and Harald Hougaard has built a custom-made zither bass. I also use custom-made chromatic blossom bells, and different metal items, such as huge serving plates.

“Racoons” was recorded with Bjarte Stensli in March 2023 at the Rainbow Studio in Oslo, with additional recording and mix by Jens Petter Nilsen and Hallvard W. Hagen from Xploding Plastix.

With cover art by Tom Korsvold, tracklisting on “Racoons” is as follows:

1. Sun Pt. 1
2. Stride
3. Auto
4. Slow
5. Mud
6. Foggy
7. Sun Pt. 2

“Racoons” will be available in CD, Digital and LP formats, and can now be pre-ordered from:

Bandcamp: erlanddahlen.bandcamp.com

Webshop: isitjazzrecords.no

Dahlen has received numerous industry awards for the albums on which he has appeared, including 13 Spelleman Awards, having been nominated an extraordinary total of 38 times. He can also be found behind the drumkit of a number of Norwegian and International film scores.