‘Deep, intense and literary….a masterpiece.’ – **** Buscadero Magazine, Italy
To experience KREG VIESSELMAN’s live show is to take in not only a master of delivery at work, but to be invited into an intimate and brightly lit space where you are constantly surprised by the subtle detail in his work, painted in earthen tones, but revealing great contrasts. It is intimate, yet lonesome. It is both gentle and fierce. It’s nakedness and striking completeness have you transfixed from the moment he opens his mouth – “a soul-deep session of primal therapy”, as Mike Butler of Dyverse Music described it.
The music has been called “soul” and “folk”, for want of better terms, but “spirit music indeed”, as the aforementioned journalist described it, perhaps hits nearer the mark. whatever one calls it, hearing Kreg Viesselman sing is an intense experience. He deals with humanity in its basic and most instinctive forms, in a style that belies a deep human intelligence and wry wit. His is a narrative voice, at once brutal and touching, which deserves its place in the canon of great American songwriters.
His forthcoming album, If You Lose Your Light, was recorded at Harrys Gym Studio in Oslo by producer and engineer Bjarne Stensli. The album features some of Norway’s premier musicians: on both double and electric bass is Sondre Meisfjord (Come Shine, Kari Bremnes, Aasmund and Odd Nordstoga, Gjermund Larsen Trio). Anne Lise Frøkedal (Harrys Gym, I Was A King) contributed vocals on several tracks. Øystein Hvamen Rasmussen (Oslo Inn, The Holy Tongue) plays drums, and Bjarne Gustavsen (Maria Mena, Nancy Drew) plays piano. The album is due for a 2012 release by Sony Music Norway.
Kreg relocated to Oslo, Norway in 2005, where he performs live with both Meisfjord and Rasmussen, and has recently contributed a track to the compilation “Hjertestups”, also recorded in Norway, and “The Six Sessions”, recorded in Holland.
Viesselman’s last album The Pull spent several weeks at number 1 in the Euro-Americana chart after a hail of beaming reviews; his first tour of mainland Europe in 2007 began at the Paradiso in Amsterdam, opening for Willie Nelson.
‘Viesselman’s songs have a sage, hardened pathos that’s hardly pretty-boy stuff. It’s not exactly what he says, but how he says it, wherein the genuine power lies. He delivers silvery, potent lines that are killer in substance. No disappointment here, Viesselman has a charmed beauty all his own.’ – Dirty Linen
‘One of the few albums which warrants the listener to hanging onto the artist’s every single word..without exception i found every song totally engrossing. Viesselman is an incisive writer who uses dazzling imagery. - Maverick
UK contact – Mat Martin - email | +44(0)7880607043
