Mariam Wallentin & Vestnorsk Jazzensemble release “Red” - a reflection on spring’s awakening

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Red draws on the intense energy of spring, the moment when stillness turns into motion, and everything begins to circulate again. This transformation unfolds both thematically and musically: from the fragile and expectant to the pulsating and expansive.

“Spring holds so much longing and change. After a period of stillness, everything begins to thaw and move again,” says Wallentin. “Faster and faster, everything gains momentum… emotions and desire. A longing to throw oneself back into life, to return to that embrace. Flowers burst into strong colors—red, cerise—drawing attention, just as the heart pumps more intensely when emotions begin to surge, when the season of falling in love arrives.”

In Red, this sense of longing takes shape through sound and texture. The music unfolds like a rising current, where layers of tone, rhythm, and improvisation build an intensity that mirrors the cycles of both body and nature. The color red emerges as a central symbol—of warmth, attraction, and vitality—where the pulse quickens and everything is drawn toward life.

The single is part of Spring Flood, an album that grew out of Wallentin’s diary notes during a stay in Basel in spring 2023. With the Rhine as a constant backdrop, fragments of text, memories, and imagination developed into a poetic material, later brought to Bergen and shaped through close collaboration with Vestnorsk Jazzensemble.

Recorded over two intense days at Duper Studio, the album captures a rare moment of musical presence, where ideas and expression emerge in real time. The result is a rich and organic soundscape, where the ensemble’s wide sonic palette—from harp textures shimmering like water to percussion inspired by natural sounds—frames Wallentin’s distinctive voice.

Mariam Wallentin is known for her uncompromising artistic vision and unique vocal expression, with a background in projects such as Wildbirds & Peacedrums, Fire! Orchestra, and Mariam The Believer. Vestnorsk Jazzensemble is a flexible, project-based ensemble that collaborates with selected artists to create new, genre-crossing works.

With Red, listeners are invited into a musical space where nature, body, and emotion intertwine—an ever-growing, pulsating movement that draws us closer.

Mariam Wallentin is a versatile artist, musician, and composer with roots in improvisation, avant-garde, contemporary music, and alternative pop. She is known from Wildbirds & Peacedrums and Fire! Orchestra, and also leads the solo project Mariam The Believer. Wallentin has toured internationally for nearly 20 years and collaborated with artists such as St. Vincent, Lykke Li, and Feist. She is an award-winning artist with a distinctive voice and an uncompromising artistic vision.

Vestnorsk Jazzensemble (The West Norwegian Jazz Ensemble) is a project-based ensemble that brings together freelance musicians from Western Norway in ever-changing line-ups. Kjetil Møster currently serves as artistic director. Through collaborations with selected composers and artists, the ensemble creates new, original works rooted in jazz, yet often crossing genres in both form and expression. The projects are documented through recordings and releases — such as Per Zanussi’s Li and the Infinite Game (Clean Feed Records, 2022) and an upcoming release with Mira Thiruchelvam later this year.