· Catamount Arts
Catamount Arts is pleased to support Vermont State University’s presentation of drum-and-trumpet duo Westerlund-Hagen, on Wednesday, October 14, at Lyndonville’s Alexander Twilight Theatre, and on Thursday, October 15th, at Johnson’s Dibden Center for the Arts. Both shows are at 7pm. Students and VTSU faculty and staff attend free.
A percussionist and composer based in Durham, North Carolina, Joe Westerlund co-founded the band Megafaun and has collaborated with artists like Justin Vernon, Arnold Dreyblatt, and Califone.
A trumpet player and producer based in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, Trever Hagen has worked with Bon Iver, Mouse on Mars, and CARM, and plays in the electronic pop trio Heavy MakeUp.
Together, they are Westerlund-Hagen, making lush, melodic, electro-acoustic jazz with an instrument pairing historically used in warfare. The battlefield use of drums and trumpets dates back to Roman legions and medieval Crusaders, but Westerlund and Hagen, who grew up together in the Midwest, respectfully acknowledge this musical legacy while deftly transcending it in an almost silky exploration of a more modern, serene, and reflective musical landscape.
Westerlund-Hagen’s debut release “Grotto,” through Minneapolis label Totally Gross National Product, consists of four ambient jazz compositions born and molded from sprawling improvisations during a winter tour in late 2024. The album captures a single winter celebrating a decades-long friendship. Blending synths, electronics, bells, trumpet, and drums, it’s a reverent audio tribute to inspiration, creativity, and collaboration in an environment of isolation and total devotion to the making of art for its own sake.
“Because it was dead of winter [when the album was recorded,] it was absolutely still,” the duo told Evelyn Nelson for VolumeOne earlier this year. “That…scared vibe of silence surrounded the recording. It was peaceful and familiar.”
They recorded the album in a family cabin North of Lake Michigan during a snowstorm, in a place they’d spent time together as children. The result is a far cry from the drum-and-trumpet corps of warfare, evoking instead a meditative and tender sort of homespun spiritualism, a moody, occasionally keening trumpet over gently rumbling rhythms.
Vermont State University, with support from Catamount Arts, will host performances by Westerlund-Hagen on both their Lyndonville and Johnson campuses, October 14th and 15th. To learn more or buy tickets, visit www.catamountarts.org, or call the box office at 802-748-2600.