Grotto

Westerlund//Hagen

The story of this album is the long-arc of a friendship punctuated by music. From

early childhood, Joe Westerlund and Trever Hagen have routinely found

themselves running parallel on life’s pathways. Yet Grotto marks their first

dedicated intersection – a duo effort after years of cultivating distinct solo sounds

on their instruments, percussion and trumpet. And that these two instruments

have long sat side by side during the ancient theater of warfare, serves as

another departure point between these kindred spirits. This album is an

engraving of an aesthetic pairing forged over lifetimes.

Grotto is the culmination of a Wisconsin tour in December 2024. On that tour, Joe

and Trever visited the Mary Nohl house just north of Milwaukee and were moved

by her artist-built residence. Over the course of her life, Nohl painted, sculpted

and designed her home into an artistic sanctuary – a grotto. As such, Grotto is

also an homage to little-known artists across the United States who turned their

isolated residences into museum-galleries, a home-styled spiritualism.

Leaving Lake Michigan in a snowstorm after the last show, Joe and Trever

headed north to the latter’s family cabin, a place they spent time together in their

youth. Arriving in after dark, they cleared out the living room, set up mics and

recorded Wrapped in Plastic, Stein Fields and Liberation Bells on the first day,

followed by The Reel the next morning before packing up and heading home.

Grotto is both the long-form receipt of a friendship as well as a snapshot of a

single winter. Released by Totally Gross National Product, the album features

four songs performed by the duo that blend synths, electronics, trumpet and

drums with a limited edition 12" vinyl in a white jacket, individually painted by

hand.