Tag Archive: Johan Berthling


Across three Ghosted records Oren Ambarchi, Johan Berthling and Andreas Werliin have expanded the possibilities of the guitar-bass-drums trio with slippery yet rigid, kosmische yet earthy music that challenges the idea time exists in neatly parcelled, indivisible increments.
For Serpentine they’re joined by multi-instrumentalist Christer Bothén, who contributed Donso n’goni to Ghosted I’s opening track. Bothén’s first instrument is the bass clarinet. In the 70s he studied the donso n’goni, a six-stringed ‘hunter’s harp’ from the Wassoulou region in Mali, eventually bringing him into Don Cherry’s orbit. He’s also versed in Gnawa, learning guinbri in Marrakesh. This worldliness ripples through Bothén’s 1984 record Trancedance,…

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It’s only been a year since guitarist Oren Ambarchi, bassist Johan Berthling, and percussionist Andreas Werliin released Ghosted II, their second album as a trio. If the making of that extraordinary record was as intense as the experience of listening to it, then you could have forgiven them for taking a longer break. But, to everyone’s benefit, they’re right back in the saddle with the third installment of Ghosted, and it’s a pleasure to report that it’s every bit as impressive as the other two.
There has, inevitably, been some evolution. Now more than ever they feel less like three distinct musicians and more like that nebulous and magical entity we call a band. The playing is looser and more live (and more alive) than ever before, which might be a result of more time…

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