Elsa Nilsson - LYDIALIEBMAN.COM

Liminal
Release Date: June 12, 2026
Label: Adhyâropa Records

Flutist and composer Elsa Nilsson explores the "in-between" on Liminal, her new album with Band of Pulses. Nilsson's 15th release as a leader and fourth with Band of Pulses, Liminal features adventurous and singular flutist Nilsson alongside pianist Santiago Leibson, bassist Marty Kenney and drummer Rodrigo Recabarren for an eight-part exploration that examines decision-making through the internal processes and actions that shape life-altering choices, both personal and collective.

"Liminality has been at the front of my mind recently," Nilsson states. "I've become fascinated with the in-betweens." The in-betweens — those transitional or initial stages of a process — serve as the inspiration behind the Brooklyn-based musician's most personal album yet. Composed entirely by Nilsson, each piece reflects a distinct phase within the cognitive process of navigating a significant turning point. Central to Liminal is Nilsson's observation that the mechanisms behind major life decisions operate the same way at both the personal and societal level: "I find it interesting how the mechanisms of making big, life-changing decisions are the same on both the micro and macro level of the human experience." Just as the Fibonacci sequence appears across nature, the internal processes Nilsson observed in herself mirror those she sees in the broader currents of social and political life.

Nilsson looked inward on Liminal, creating it during an eventful time personally, including the dissolution of a long-term relationship. The music reaches outward from that experience, connecting personal upheaval to the collective disillusionment of the times. "Music captures what it feels like to be alive in the moment when it is created, both on the personal and the societal level," she explains. The resulting eight tracks form an artful exploration of complex emotional terrain that is at once intimate and universal.

Across Liminal, each composition represents a distinct stage within a broader process of transformation. The album opens with "Andetag" (Swedish for "breath"), a meditation on gathering strength before confronting something difficult. Whether that hard thing is a personal truth or a larger social reality, Nilsson frames the breath as an act of preparation, the inhale of spirit required before any meaningful change can begin. Drawing from chemistry, "‡ Transition State" captures the suspended, high-energy moment before irreversible change, where doubt and momentum coexist. As Nilsson notes, these transition states exist in political and social life too: the interval between an election and an inauguration, or the time between a decision and its execution, are spaces where something significant is clearly happening, but its meaning only becomes legible in hindsight.

"Not Said, Not Heard" reflects the internal pressure of attempting to normalize the unlivable, tracing the psychological strain of cognitive dissonance as it accumulates and reshapes one's inner and outer world. Like a wave hitting a rocky beach, the flashpoints that expose this tension cover everything momentarily before sinking into consciousness, eventually forcing a reckoning with a new reality. That tension gives way to "Capacity," which oscillates between periods of perceived calm and explosion, illustrating the breaking point once cognitive dissonance has reached its limit. The piece also speaks to the uneven way this pressure is distributed: some are shielded from uncomfortable realities by circumstance or privilege, while for others, the personal and societal collide in ways that cannot be ignored.

On "Yesterday's Promise," shifting perspectives are embodied through a flexible bass line, mirroring the fragile negotiation between holding one's ground and losing oneself in compromise. The bass represents a shared reality, while everything around it bends, illustrating how the same set of facts can be interpreted in entirely different directions when certain truths go unaddressed. Nilsson shifts gears on the next composition: "1 year, 10 months, 3 days for Ahmaud Arbery." A flashpoint in both her personal and social reckoning, the piece was written on November 24th, exactly 1 year, 10 months and 3 days after Ahmaud Arbery was shot while going for a run. The compositional structure reflects that date, with the first part comprising 24 bars and the second 11 bars (24/11). "There is a point, a moment, a switch in every liminal state that creates an understanding," Nilsson explains. "These are the points from which we can imagine a different reality, where we step into the next version of our existence. Rage can be the fire that burns through illusions." She adds plainly: "I went for a run today without getting shot. That should be true for everyone. I don't find this to be a political or inflammatory statement, just a statement of fact."

"Mourning For Two," based on the call of the mourning dove woven into the melody, considers grief as an active, necessary process: the work of accepting the world as it is rather than as one wishes it to be. As Azita Ardakani Walton said: "Grief is a digestive enzyme." There is discomfort, Nilsson suggests, in honestly viewing one's own agency, or lack thereof, in a world one wishes were different. But that acceptance is a precondition for change. The album closes with "Stepping Away," a quiet but resolute emergence into selfhood, leaving behind systems, beliefs, and structures that no longer hold. "Allowing grief to peel away layers of identity and leave us standing with who we really are," she says, "...stepping into our own strength and moving toward an unknown life ahead."

On Liminal, most striking is the musical interplay between Nilsson, Leibson, Recabarren and Kenney, perfected by years of collaboration. Leibson, who hails from Argentina, most recently worked with Nilsson in duet on Quila Quina -40°17'38.21"S, -71°45'68.48"W, the second volume of her expansive Atlas of Sound series, while Chilean drummer Recabarren has been a long-standing member in many of Nilsson's ensembles since 2020. With the addition of wide-ranging bassist Kenney, Band of Pulses showcases four major creative forces on the New York jazz and improvised music scene at their peak. Their debut album as an ensemble, Pulses, was praised as "original, heartfelt and reaching" by Allen Michie of The Arts Fuse.

Liminal adds to Nilsson's growing discography, which reflects her astute perspective informed by deep research and immersion. Her eclectic recorded history includes the aforementioned Atlas of Sound series, which brings listeners into specific geographic locations through a multimedia approach; several albums with the Esthesis Quartet, of which she is a co-leader; and her social justice-tinged Hindsight, inspired by protests following the 2016 election. Like her previous projects, for Liminal she consulted various texts including Clarissa Pinkola Estés' The Women Who Run With The Wolves and James Baldwin's The Fire Next Time.

"At times, things move as slow as molasses and simultaneously too fast to be noticed," Elsa says. "I believe one of the magical aspects of music is its ability to hold each gradient of a moment for long enough that we can fully experience and observe it." With Liminal, Nilsson gives shape to the in-between, translating lived experience into a clear and deeply human musical statement.

Quila Quina -40°17’38.21”S, -71°45’68.48”W
Release Date: October 11, 2023
Label: ears&eyes Records

Elsa Nilsson and Santiago Leibson will issue Quila Quina -40°17’38.21”S, -71°45’68.48”W — which builds on the vision its predecessor, Coast Redwoods 40°17’38.21”S, -71°45’68.48”W. This time, Atlas of Sound hones in on Quila Quina, in the Patagonian region of Argentina, in the province of Neuquen. The coordinates in the titles mark the exact location of the conception of the music.

Quila Quina sits on the southern shore of Lago Lacár, and is reachable only by gravel road or ferry from San Martín de los Andes. It is on National Park Lands, in collaboration with the Mapuche community that lives there. As the national park was being created through colonization, small plots of land were simultaneously being purchased by non-Indigenous folk, and logging became the primary industry. Nilsson arrived there days before the end of 2023, for a writing residency at Project Oasis' by invitation of Maryella Marie and her partner Guillermina Fumagalli. Upon Nilsson’s arrival, her hosts set up a guided tour with a man named Guary Valenzuela — the youngest of 10 in a family of Mapuche folks, who lay claim to that ancestral land.

She soon began to learn all about Quila Quina’s landscape, and flora and fauna — including the call and response of birds, the medicinal properties of plants, and water’s preferred pathways through the local tree systems. She wrote Quila Quina over a five-day period soaking in — and learning about — this special environment. And Leibson — her valued, longtime collaborator — provided the perfect counterbalance for this musical representation of the natural world.

“One of the things I appreciate most about Santiago is his attention to texture and how quickly he picks up on really small details and brings them to the forefront,” Nilsson shares. “Santiago always brings all of himself to everything he plays, and these 5 hours at Estudio Doctor F. were no different.” The book that accompanies the release includes poetry by Mapuche poet Pukem Inayao, in Mapudungun, interweaved between descriptions of the plants and the compositions.This book is meant to be read as one listens to the album.

After an introductory poem by Pukem, Quila Quina kicks off with “The Wind From The North Comes From The West,” which Nilsson sums up as “the holding identity while changing directions.” “Winds are such powerful connectors. Everything that is alive breathes in some way, a measurement of life in time,” she says of that track. “I am perpetually aware of air. Every time I enter a space to play music I immediately note the air, my primary ingredient in creating sound. Each space has a distinctive texture that is a result of humidity, proximity to salt water, level of pollution, plant life, time since rain and countless other factors.”

“Neneo, Charcao, Chacay” is an ode to grasses and brush. “I wrote this piece early in the morning after climbing straight up this very steep hill to get a closer look at the field of Neneo,” she says. “This particular hill was covered in the low growing brushes I’d seen with Guary the day before, with a few Maiten on the ridge. The view was so compelling, I just had to go up.”

“Waters Cold and Deep” pays homage to Lago Lacár, the body of water that touches Quila Quina’s shores. “The morning I wrote this the lake was in its mirror state, where the water is so still it looks like glass. This is a common morning occurrence as the winds often pick up around noon. The sunlight reflecting onto the Pataguas made it seem as if the trees were glittering,” Nilsson says. “This balance between playfulness and peace in this interaction brought this melody forward for me with my feet in the freezing water right alongside the Pataguas.”

“Tren Tren, Abanico, Vizcacha,” follows — and Nilsson wrote it for a currently inactive volcano that took on a legendary, mythological significance. “Of course, a song for the three mountains needed to be in 3/4,” she says. “It has three sections. These sections are shaped like the mountains they represent.”

Another Pukem poem follows, with “Ciprés, Roble Pellín, Ñire” right behind it. “This particular grove was in an outdoor event space called “El Bosque” where my hosts put on an amazing lunch and I played these melodies for an audience for the first time.” While they were setting up I wandered in the woods, listening,” Nilsson says.

“The recurring half step in the melody was coming at me from all over. It originated in the waves rolling against the beach covered in pebbles,” she adds. “The whoosh of the tree canopy responding in turn, branches interacting in half step motions as they change directions with the wind. The birds took it up and echoed it around to each other until the wind returned the phrase to the water.”

“Radal” is about its namesake tree, which offers a host of therapeutic properties and practical applications. “The bark is used to cure toothaches, the wood from fallen trees used for tools and art, and the honey that comes from the bees pollinating the flowers has a distinctive flavor,” Nilsson elaborates.

And, about the music: “The line that begins this song and is traded back and forth between flute and piano has minor changes only, but these details make a large difference,” Nilsson continues. “When we leave the line, it is still there. The details define the motion, even when they are not being observed. Imagine how rich our experience could be if the details were always acknowledged with such attention?”

“Maiten/Michay” frames the relationship between the soft, narrow Maiten tree, and the intense thorns of the Michay. “I’ve been thinking about this in relation to a phrase my friend Keith LaMar LaMar (a wrongfully-convicted death row prisoner in Ohio with much to teach the world about grace. Learn more at keithlamar.org) says: everything is everything,” Nilsson says. “I think about those words a lot, because I like the truth in them. It's like the details we pass through to see their connection to everything else. We find our focal point from which we access all things, and that connects us to that which we don’t yet understand.”

Quila Quina -40°17’38.21”S, -71°45’68.48”W concludes with “Chin Chin/Puelche,” a musical transcription of the sensation of changes and shifts. Therein, she compares the Chin Chin, a tree with small, dark green leaves, with the movement of the air.

“Puelche is the wind from the east, the other direction. People don’t like it, said Guary. It leaves folks feeling unsettled,” Nilsson says. “I experienced the Puelche winds on my third day in Quila Quina and I understood. It was unsettling, and I couldn’t put my finger on why. Segundo, who ran the campsite, shared that things are built to serve the prevailing wind directions. In Puelche, winds fires go where they shouldn’t, shelters don’t work as designed. We have to pay more attention when things change.”

Throughout an accompanying book, Nilsson brings readers into Guary’s shared knowledge, and credits him throughout. As she explains, Valenzuela spoke of the Mapuche language, Mapudungun, and shared that it was originally a spoken language only, and the written aspect was added when creating Mapudungun to Spanish dictionaries. “Guary shared that when he was a kid, she adds. “Many parents weren’t teaching their kids the language out of fear of oppression, but it is now being taught in schools again.”

Undergirding this all is the language of nature itself — and Nilsson channels it with grace, intuition and an abundant sense of musical poeticism.

Pulses
Release Date: October 6, 2023
Label: ears&eyes Records

Pulses, the groundbreaking new album from visionary flutist-composer Elsa Nilsson and her latest creative outfit Band of Pulses. What is the line that makes sound, music? Nilsson, along with pianist Santiago Leibson, bassist Marty Kenney and drummer Rodrigo Recabarren, seek to answer that question in Pulses, a riveting eight-part suite based and built on the rhythmic and melodic aspects of Dr. Maya Angelou’s voice. Awarded a Chamber Music America New Jazz Works Grant, Pulses explores the intersection between jazz and communication by highlighting the subtle melodic development and deep groove in Dr. Angelou’s reading of her poem “On The Pulse of Morning”. Crafted, composed, and improvised around Dr. Angelou’s pitch and phrasing, Pulses is an impressive creative experiment that brings to light the full depth of her sonic and poetic brilliance.

“I’ve always been drawn to Dr. Angelou’s work,” says Nilsson. “What I find compelling is her ability to look directly at difficult topics and approach them with both compassion and honesty. Her unflappable clarity in her expression of everything from the beautiful to the brutal is something I work to embody on my instrument as well. I return to her work often in order to guide myself back to center, and find a path forward in making art that feels genuine.”

The seeds for Pulses were first planted about three years ago, when Recabarren shared a clip of Dr. Angelou’s seminal recitation of “On The Pulse of Morning” at Bill Clinton’s inauguration with Elsa, as they were both working on musical projects inspired by the spoken word. “Ron Miles told me once to imagine lyrics to every note I play. This is something I listen for in music,” explains Nilsson. When listening to Dr. Angelou’s speech, she was immediately struck by the similarities in her voice to John Coltrane’s horn, and she surveyed the delicate balance between momentum and restraint in the poet’s voice. “Flute has not been a go-to instrument in jazz, and I believe a lot of it is because this kind of momentum doesn’t come naturally on the instrument due to its lack of resistance in the creation of the sound. It is much more of a vocal process, and so exploring how Dr. Angelou was creating that effect with her voice was exciting to me.”

Nilsson fully immersed herself in this musical-spoken word intersection, and came up with some intriguing findings. For one, the inescapable similarities of Dr. Angelou’s pitch and rhythms to the blues stuck out to Nilsson, drawing a connection between communication in speech and communication in jazz. Dr. Angelou uses diminished sounds to build intensity, and major sounds to release it, and when there is thematic development in the content, it is met with appropriate pitch and rhythm in speech. “The more time I spend with each inflection the deeper I hear the connection between her voice and the voices of musicians I love. At different points in her reading her phrasing will sound like John Coltrane, Coleman Hawkins and Ornette Coleman. She increases her rhythmic density to build tension and releases it in the same fashion found in bebop phrasing,” shares Nilsson. The deeper Nilsson dug into her inflections and phrasing, the more similarities with jazz she found, and this natural connection inspired the music that poured out of her. Granted permission from Angelou’s estate, Caged Bird Legacy, Nilsson incorporates the entire 1993 recording, formally merging these two mediums to make something entirely new.

Band of Pulses brings together four imaginative creative forces of the New York jazz and improvised music scene. Recabarren, whose credits include Guillermo Klein, Melissa Aldana and Clauda Acuña, first worked with Nilsson extensively in 2020 as part of their collaborative trio South By North East with bassist Bam Bam Rodriguez. Not long after the release of their critically acclaimed debut album for human beings (coincidentally, also drawn from poetry, as the title is connected to a favorite poem of his), the trio became a duo due to Rodriguez’s relocation. It was great luck then when Nilsson met Kenney (Allan Harris, Art Landy) and Leibson (Tony Malaby, Guillermo Klein, Francisco Mela), and felt an instant musical connection. “The way they played together felt like the exact right thing,” she says.

Originally from Gothenburg, Sweden, Brooklyn-based Nilsson is a musical visionary with boundless creativity. A founding member of the Esthesis Quartet, and leader/co-leader of nearly a dozen albums, Nilsson’s growing discography reflects an astute perspective, informed by deep research and immersion. Her adventurous 2022 ears&eyes release, Atlas Of Sound - Coast Redwoods - 41°32'09.8"N 124°04'35.5"W” brought listeners into Redwood National Park, and was praised by Bandcamp’s Dave Sumner as being “as close as you’ll get to being there without actually being there,” adding that it was “yet another intriguing project from Nilsson that touches upon themes of experience, memory, and interconnectedness.” Hindsight, her 2020 release inspired by the street protests after the 2016 election, did the same thing by incorporating the rhythmic cadence of protests and chants and turning them into compelling melodies and motifs. Pulses follows in the footsteps of these great contemporary works by marrying music and the spoken word in impeccable fashion.

Coast Redwoods 41°32’09.8”N 124°04’35.5”W
Release Date: April 22, 2022
Label: ears&eyes Records

Coast Redwoods 41°32’09.8”N 124°04’35.5”W is the first release from Elsa Nilsson's Atlas of Sound series, which is inspired by human connection to locations of the natural world. Lush and melodic, at times subversive, Nilsson’s trio recording invites listeners into dense woody thickets where breezes idle and sounds of footsteps disappear into layers of pine needle. The ten-movement suite emerged from improvised material Nilsson recorded at two sets of coordinates, a month apart from each other. When she began composing in earnest, the Brooklyn-based artist out of Sweden had in mind her personnel: Jon Cowherd on piano and Chris Morrissey on bass, two fiercely exploratory artists who intuit aspects of Nilsson’s orchestration and enter each sound grove with nimble awareness.

“The secret is in the tempo,” says Nilsson, “how slow [the redwoods] move. For me to hear them I have to slow down, stay still. Really, really listen. When I do, I find music in every movement. There’s a melody in the rustle of leaves as the wind blows through them and they release and float to the ground, a groove in the sound of footsteps, real or imagined.”

“[Nilsson] is the logical choice to provide a needed next step for her instrument in the world of jazz and improvised music”
— All About Jazz

Another secret is in Nilsson’s treatment of leitmotif throughout the recording: “For me, an ecosystem is expressed in the similarities and connections between things.” She sought to have the gesture appear in every movement, but not wholly materialize, developing instead across the arc of the suite. “It pops up and goes away.” Elements of the motif might emerge in the bass movement, or in the piano responding to a related phrase. “When you get to the final movement, it’s familiar and you don’t know why. It’s like the feeling you get when you’re walking among trees where you’ve never walked before.”

Certain movements, including “Old Growth,” “Hold On To Each Other” and “Proof of the Unseen,” engage the leitmotif using giant intervallic leaps. Others, as in “Sunshift Haze,” allow melodies to pass from one instrument to another: “I’ll take a piano melody and move two or three notes into the bass part — there’s a connection to every part of the ecosystem from the bottom of the roots to the top of the trees.”

During her visit to the north end of Redwood National Park, Nilsson recorded what would become the seeds for seven movements, later recording those for “Old Growth,” “Proof of the Unseen” and “Coralie” in the Grove of Old Trees outside Occidental. “The suite depicts many different aspects of how we relate to the Redwoods and their connection to each other … It is a story of interconnectedness that spans our history and informs our future.”

The third of her records to be mastered by Nate Wood, the Coast Redwoods opens in tender inquisition on “Sunshift Haze,” named for the morning hours when fog blooms across the redwoods before the sun breaks through. The melody develops over time, playing in totality only toward the end of the movement. “As the piece progresses, the melody becomes more and more clear, like the sun burning off the fog,” says Nilsson. “The flute represents the sun, bass and piano the fog, and together we clear the way for the day to begin.

Throughout the suite, motivic melody passes intentionally among piano, bass and flute/ Morrissey handles its lyrical arc on “Catching Droplets,” the first movement to unveil the suite’s leitmotif in its entirety. “The bass [represents] the roots enjoying their gift of water from the fog,” says Nilsson. “The flute and piano represent the droplets falling from the canopy and running down the bark, making little rivers from the Redwood created rains.” Beautiful and somber, “Old Growth” features Morrissey’s arco as it engages the vocal quality of Nilsson’s flute song alongside atmospheric motion from Cowherd.

Nilsson composed “The Ground is Its Own” for First Nations “that belong to the trees.” The gesture spotlights nimble spontaneity between Nilsson and Cowherd. Charting the deep-rooted symbiotic relationship between the redwoods and fungal mycorrhiza, “Proof of the Unseen” feature’s Morrissey performing lyrical ornaments around Nilsson’s long-held melodies. “Epicormic” prompts an energetic current of improvisation that settles into an almost cyclical melody, exploring fire as a natural part of the redwood life cycle. “I wrote this [movement] in the midst of lockdown when I felt my world falling apart around me in a myriad of ways,” says Nilsson. “Even when the world around us burns, there are seeds for something new to come.” Cowherd and Morrissey proffer thoughtful solos on “Fairy Rings” before Nilsson and Cowherd take out a percussive variation on the melody.

“Coralie” opens in meditative warmth, unfolding in tribute to Nilsson’s niece, part of “the third generation to grow up calling these trees home.” The Coast Redwoods leitmotif emerges in the piano part on “Molted Steps,” one of the suite’s gentle yet kinetic movements. Intentional pauses and beats of non-playing reflect the feeling of walking along the fallen needles. “Suddenly you don’t hear your own feet anymore,” says Nilsson. “You feel the motion of it — you feel that things are moving — but it doesn’t sound like it.” When listeners hear “Hold On To Each Other,” the suite’s final movement, they encounter an unnamed familiarity in the resolution of the leitmotif: “It’s an exhalation. If we support each other we are all stronger. If we all hold on to each other, less of us are likely to fall.”

Nilsson ensures each leader release includes an element of written word. The Atlas of Sound series invites listeners into the expanse of her imagination through original poetry, providing them the option of gaining a different perspective on her music and her artistic expression. “The way poetry and instrumental music complement each other,” says Nilsson, “is that they can either focus or dispel a direction.

“Because of the abstraction of instrumental music, what I put out into the world doesn’t belong to me anymore. It belongs to the listener. That doesn’t mean that all of the thought and all of the processing and all of the growth…everything that goes into creating art is gone. It just means that it’s taking on its own life.”

for human beings
Release Date: May 15, 2020 (digital-only release)
Label: BumbleBee Collective

With the release of for human beings, Sweden-native, New York City-based flutist and composer Elsa Nilsson debuts her new collaborative group South by North East (SXNE). On this five-piece improvised suite, Nilsson is joined by Bam Bam Rodríguez on bass and Rodrigo Recabarren on drums. Recorded on January 24, 2020, for human beings has since taken on a whole new perspective as a result of the global COVID-19 pandemic. The video for a clip from the track “Forward” will be released on May 12th. To mark the release day, SXNE are inviting fans to join a Zoom meeting with them - at 1pm (EST) on May 15th, the attendees will join the band in each colouring a letter while listening through the album. You can register in advance for this meeting here.

Upon returning to these recordings amidst the early days of isolation, this trio found glimpses of solace and comfort. With each playback, these three musicians were struck with new thoughts, emotions and felt a multitude of fresh, creative doors opening. As many people are now faced with unprecedented space in their day, Elsa, Bam and Rodrigo want to share each of their creative spaces with their audience - a space to be whatever one needs to be; To sit in stillness, or in turmoil. SXNE invites listeners to join them in making something together - Bam is making stop motion animations and doing daily live streams of music to breathe, write, meditate, read and feel. Elsa is creating mandalas for fans to color that when combined, will build the words of the Rumi poem referenced in the track titles. Rodrigo is transcribing and building music around rhythms of important speeches and making life beautiful for his wife and son.

for human beings follows the February 2020 release of Hindsight, Elsa Nilsson’s third album as a leader, a recording on which - according to Hot House Magazine - "Elsa imbues resonating, percussive lines with profound emotional responses to personal experiences and global issues." On for human beings, the flutist and composer’s combined passion for music, protest and justice is evident once again. Living in New York City, each of these musicians are particularly exposed to the sheer juxtaposition that has presented itself - the contrast between a prior life in a loud, fast and stressful city to one that has come to a frighteningly sudden and unexpected halt.

“We used to live in a world where just being is boring, and arrived at one where "just" being became overwhelming. That idea is what we want to represent with this music.” -Bam Rodriguez

Each composition on this five-track journey moves in many directions, just like many listeners might now find themselves exploring new places, emotionally and mentally, during isolation. “Every day contains so much space.” As Elsa continues to reflect, “when we recorded this, there was no way we could have known where it would go. These tracks lay waiting for weeks untouched after recording because we were busy. Life was moving fast. And then suddenly it slammed to a stop. The loss is overwhelming - both the loss of our heroes, friends and loved ones, and the loss of the lives we knew.”

This music then returned to Rodrigo, Elsa and Bam in the midst of the global pandemic. In it, they heard all the thoughts, wearies and emotions they were now experiencing - the fear and anger, the deafening silence of the empty streets of New York. But also the space to move within - to take the time to have those long conversations with oneself that used to be hard to find time for; To sit in stillness and confront their thoughts, their fears, their dreams, the realities of what they actually want out of life.

Keep walking, though there is no place to get to.
Don't try to see through the distances.
That's not for human beings. Move within,
but don't move in the way fear makes you move.
-Rumi

Hindsight
Release Date: February 21, 2019
Label: BumbleBee Collective

Sweden-native, New York City-based flutist and composer Elsa Nilsson is proud to announce the February 21strelease of Hindsight, her third album as a leader. Hindsight is a direct reaction to the result of the 2016 U.S. presidential election and the issues that have manifested since; it is a ten-track collection of resistance compositions, embedded with the rhythmic chants of a nation. The Elsa Nilsson Quartet features Jeff McLaughlinon guitar, Alex Minier on bass and Cody Rahn on drums/percussion. Throughout 2020, Elsa will tour this music across Pennsylvania, North Carolina, West Virginia, Vermont, Gothenburg, Malmö, Stockholm and Copenhagen. Before and during this tour, videos for each of the tracks will be released – each of which have been created by individuals who experience, or are at least exposed to the direct effects of the social and political disorder brought to light by these compositions.

With every political and social issue that resonated with the flutist came a new composition – an outlet for objection and resistance. Upon bringing this music to her band, the individual rage, frustration and confusion that Nilsson had been harboring found support and solidarity as the musicians added their thoughts and perspectives, giving the music expanded depth. Nilsson says: “the music became a record of our reactions to the changing world around us. My mission with Hindsight is both to express my feelings around the topics I care deeply about, show solidarity with everyone who is directly affected and gratitude for everyone who is showing up to make a difference in any way they can.”

Music is both a reaction to and an inﬂuence on its culture. The ﬂute is her voice and on Hindsight Elsa Nilsson uses it to translate the language of political movement. Music begins to communicate where language ends. It is an attempt to describe what we can’t even understand – to communicate a thought that hasn’t been fully formed. This band imbibes the energy of rock n’ roll, the cadence of street protest, the visceral improvisations of jazz and the compositional language of Classical music to express the emotional turmoil that goes beyond words in reaction to the state of our world. There is democracy in improvised music. All voices are heard and are integral to the argument, even if one voice is leading the conversation. Each person leads the discussion, at some point or another. If a voice is missing, the absence is felt. There is democracy in music, but there is also music in democracy. Elsa saw that music in the protest chants that inspired this album. The improvisations and compositions heard on Hindsight intertwines dialog from speeches and the rhythms from protest marches that Elsa has witnessed and been a part of.

“Changed In Mid Air” was inspired by the infamous Travel Ban. It captures the uncertainty of the traveler, the fear of having the rug pulled out from under you and the action of all those who came to the airport to protest and help. The chant used is “Say It Loud, Say It Clear, Refugees Are Welcome Here”. “Worth The Risk/Maria” describes the process of realizing you are being forced to leave your home. There are moments of imagining a better life, the dream of who you could be if you get to where you are heading safely. No one chooses to be a refugee, but some things are worth the risk. “Maria” is the storm. Both the literal storm of Hurricane Maria hitting Puerto Rico and the figurative storm of the dangers of imigration and the inhumane treatment of asylum seekers at the border. “Will Help Come” expresses the long wait for aid after Hurricane Maria hits. Faith turns into desperation.

“Enough Is Enough” forces its audience to reflect upon another recent tragedy in US history. The tune is 6 minutes and 20 seconds long – the exact length of time that the gunman was active at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High school. It uses the rhythms from chants “Enough is Enough” and “We Call BS”.

“Hindsight” is the seed of this entire project. It is a reaction to a broken system, a system where people feel their votes don’t matter, resulting in a government that they feel doesn’t represent them. “What Can I Do” stems from the rhythm of “Black Lives Matter”. This piece is built around the rigid structure of an 11 note tone row that we then have to navigate within, much like how citizens of a nation need to figure out how to exist within the structures of institutionalized racism and its effects on their psyche and society. Traditionally this compositional technique uses 12 notes, but I left one note out to represent what we are leaving out in how we relate to each other on issues of race.

“Trickle Down” is based on “We Are The 99%” and is a representation of how we are taught to believe that if we work hard we will get what we deserve. Unfortunately, there are many unpleasant factors involved; socio-economic background, race, gender, privilege, debt, luck and more all play an inexorable role.

The album shifts to the topic of the Kavanaugh hearings with “I Believe You” and “Fill The Courts”. “I Believe You” moves through the immense bravery of Dr. Ford coming forward with her story, the hope of her being believed and into the realization that it didn’t change a thing. “Fill The Courts” expresses the unstoppable momentum of the years of setup to fill the courts with conservative justices. The amount of preparation and planning that has gone in to making it possible for the current administration to fill so many vacant court seats is – to Elsa – overwhelming. The video for this track, which will be released in April, is credited to Lisa Russel – a filmmaker for the UN.

The album closes with “We Show Up” – the composer’s anthem of gratitude for everyone who stands up and gets involved in the causes they believe in. “Every time I see anyone take action, stand in line outside their polling location, speak out on behalf of others or change their own ways for the better, it gives me hope. I wanted to end this record with a piece to honor the best in all of us. I truly believe we are not alone in this. We don’t have to agree, but the urge to make the world better is a fundamental human instinct that we need to nurture.”

In recording and playing this music live, it has taken on a life of its own – it now belongs to every listener and audience member. These songs that began with the flutist alone in her practice room have grown, much like the chants have and continue to do so in the streets.