​
Yan Westerlund is a drummer, composer, and educator based in Durham, NC. He has served as both a studio and touring drummer for various artists including: Sylvan Esso, Ani DiFranco, Tallest Man On Earth, Waxahatchee, Indigo Girls, Hurray For The Riff Raff, Phil Cook, Anjimile, Basia Bulat, Mipso, Bowerbirds, Deyarmond Edison, Lost In The Trees, The Rosebuds, Mount Moriah, etc...He has performed at renowned music festivals all over the world including: Lollapalooza, Bonnaroo, Prima Vera Sound, Pitchfork, Big Ears, Roskilde, Iceland Airwaves, NOLA Jazz Fest, Montreux Jazz Fest, All Points East, Pukkelpop, Green Man, Calgary Folk Fest, Pickathon, and many others. Yan leads his own instrumental group Quetico as the sole composer and drummer. His long time collaborative bands include Canine Heart Sounds and Yandrew.
"Quetico, a provincial park in Ontario, Canada, is 1.2 million acs of rugged boreal wilderness made up of a vast system of lakes, connected by portages, and traversable by canoe. It’s a place one goes to be alone, to disappear into a chorus of natural sounds, to reset, and to lose all sense of normal time. Quetico, the solo jazz project of Eau Claire native Yan Westerlund, serves that exact same purpose, except indoors. Westerlund, who now resides in North Carolina, has performed and recorded drums with notable indie outfits such as Sylvan Esso, Ani DiFranco, Indigo Girls, Phil Cook, Bowerbirds, Mipso, and Daughter Of Swords, to name a fraction. He has also played in the progressive-experimental outfit, Canine Heart Sounds, since the late-aughts. In Quetico, though, Westerlund serves as the sole composer, meticulously exploring the edges of jazz music and what lies beyond the constructs of traditional structure. Quetico’s newest release, Know You Are, is a more subdued follow-up to 2019’s maximalist Man Alone. It’s the sound of Westerlund fully realizing his vision for the project, resulting in a meticulously crafted piece of art. With the help of Tim Sullivan and Mark Paulson on an array of instruments, Know You Are features an amalgam of wild time signatures played on Yan’s stripped-down kit, electronic drum pads, sultry saxophone, expansive flute and clarinet, calming piano, digital noise modulations, and big, hooky synths. The entire record is a proof point that Westerlund operates on another level musically. There’s a very studied jazz mastery at play here, transforming into hip-hop, R&B, even easy listening at times, then completely cathartic walls of sound at others. In all Quetico’s heady decision-making, Know You Are feels like a genuine expression of what truly goes on in our own scattered heads. There’s hope, lightness, purity, intensity, and indecipherable disorder, all neatly contained in just seven tracks. Much like the real Quetico, Know You Are is worth returning to time and time again to find new paths, explore new depths, or to just get lost for a little while. It’s a welcome addition to the ever-growing list of genre-pushing music being made by musicians native to Eau Claire.
- Mike Behrends (Volume One)
​​​
"Quetico is rooted, by admission of its genre tags, in r&b, hip hop, and jazz but there's moments like the soaring "Jeanne", the emotive expanse of "Father Lenny" or cascading "The Dark Waters" that seem deeply invocative of Westerlund's folk foundations. Man Alone essentially seeks to marry these folk and electronic dalliances with hip hop and jazz inspired rhythms and the result is something not entirely classifiable through genre alone. The fact that Westerlund felt the need to speak through so many different instruments in his compositions is pretty indicative of the complexity of influence, inspiration, and aspiration. Purely an instrumental project, piano serves as Westerlund's primary vehicle for establishing melodic ideas with synths more as means for exploration of timbres."
- Dante Allington (All Around Sound)
​
​
KNOW YOU ARE - album liner notes by Josh Kimbrough:
"Ahhh, Yan Westerlund. Just typing the name brings a smile to my face. I remember meeting Yan at a house party soon after he’d moved from Wisconsin to North Carolina in 2009. The KFC Double Down was the new, unreasonable, fast-food gimmick at the time. We promised each other we’d eat one together someday. That never happened, thankfully, but we did become housemates. When we lived together he’d often sit at the piano and work on melodic fragments. One thing I remember is how he’d put his whole body into it when he’d play. As if the feeling was just as important as the notes.
By 2019, these fragments had been fused together and fleshed out. The first Quetico album, Man Alone, was realized. What a complete thrill it was to hear that album for the first time! It has wonderfully idiosyncratic arrangements, heady polyrhythms, and delectable melodies all swirled into a nine-song feast. Once the album was out, Yan impressively found a way to bring his intricate and elastic compositions to the stage with a trio. A string of celebratory shows in NC, MN, and WI followed. The music was shared with new friends and old. The performances were fierce and joyful and masterful. In 2020 the show offers were still coming, but the pandemic started to hit. Yan hunkered down to focus on recording projects and charge his creative batteries.
Fast forward to the 2021 NBA playoffs, Game 2 between Yan’s Bucks and the Phoenix Suns. Yan invited me over to watch the game. During that visit, I discovered he’d been busy doing two things while quarantined: collecting an army of assorted plastic figurines (mostly 90s basketball players), and writing a new Quetico album. He played me the title track, “Know You Are”. I closed my eyes and let the tempest of notes wash over me. I love how music can hit so hard in those moments, when a friend is vulnerably sharing a fresh creation with you. The track gave me chills! The term “ear candy” kept popping into my head as the song played. There were surprises around every corner. An 8-bit sound effect here, a keyboard swell there, delightfully off kilter beats, and (new to the Quetico palette) killer saxophone lines and textures.
As I sit writing this in Jan of 2022, I’ve been listening to the full album, Know You Are, for two weeks straight. I have to say, it’s simply life-giving. Yan is funny, and Yan is tender. You hear these facets in the music. That saxophone I mentioned is fortunately present on many other of the seven tunes. It’s performed by Tim Sullivan, a childhood friend of Yan’s. Yan’s always liked how he improvises “straight from the gut”. Tim contributes saxophone to some tracks and flute to others.
The album is also graced with Mark Paulson’s inspired string arrangements. Mark is another musical figure who’s been important to Yan for years. Yan and I have bonded over our love of Mark’s band from the early aughts, Ticonderoga. That band could knead soulfulness and dissonance together in the most brilliant way, not unlike Quetico. Yan and Mark have chemistry, and the album is extremely well served by Mark’s layers of strings.
I want to take a moment to talk specifically about each tune and how they make me feel. The record sucks you in, right off the bat. Track one, “Know You Are”, leads with a triumphant horn line. The beat is skittery and restless. I close my eyes and I’m on a mechanical bull ride. Two thirds of the way through we get a taste of strings, a quiet moment, and then a satisfying saxophone outburst. Things end suddenly, leaving us wanting more. Track two, “Worship Team”, is a song lifted from the Canine Hearts Sounds repertoire. There’s plenty of space here for Tim to dance around on sax. There’s a lightness to the tune. The beat saunters along. I feel like I’m walking on the moon as I listen. Who needs the metaverse, when you have Quetico? Next up, “Awanas”. There’s a new age quality to this one. A jazz fusion quality as well. The drums pitter patter along in an odd meter, at a brisk pace. This is one of the tunes where the strings really shine. At one point, video game glitches are woven together with Mark’s titillating rising glissando moves. It’s one of my favorite moments on the record. The album takes a slightly somber turn with “Putnam Heights”. Another one of my favorite moments comes in this song. Two thirds of the way through there’s a break. Yan’s chimes lead us back in along with a sputtering space echo delay. I feel like I’m ascending into heaven. “Keith” has a pensive vibe. Pensive, but hopeful. This one makes me feel like I’m walking around, looking for signs of life in a post-apocalyptic world. The round and stark piano tone is sweet and lonely. “The Oracle Sings” is triumphant sounding. Tim is really letting loose. The climax with piano arpeggios reminds me of The Bad Plus. The final track, “Story Lords” is playful–it leaves things on a lighthearted note. Shaker, triangle, and flute set the stage. I’m imagining myself on a tropical vacation. Can you hand me my Piña Colada, please?
There’s a quote from The Matrix that puts this album’s title in context, “Don’t think you are, know you are.” Morpheus gives this advice to a doubtful Neo. Yan has found inspiration in that line over the years.
Know You Are is a perfect name for this album. When I listen to it, I feel invincible. The listening instructions I can offer: blast this in your car with the windows rolled down. Bask in these tunes. Forget your troubles and your doubts for a while. Lose yourself in the soul-stirring Quetico universe."
​
- Josh Kimbrough
​
​
​
​