Eivind Aarset 4Tet

You look for comparisons but can’t find any that hold up. Not Metheny, not Frisell, not Eno. Norwegian guitarist Eivind Aarset draws on elements from all three, and in the end, it sounds like none of them. Born in 1961, the Norwegian started out as a heavy metal guitarist, found his way into Nils Petter Molvær’s circle through improvisation, and stayed there. Not stylistically, but in terms of approach. The New York Times called his debut, “Électronique Noire,” one of the best electric jazz albums of the post-Miles Davis era. That was in 1998. He’s only gotten better since then.

His quartet is a machine of a kind all its own. Audun Erlien on bass, plus two drummers—Wetle Holte and Erland Dahlen—which gives the sound a hypnotic double pulse. The guitar sometimes sounds like a familiar instrument, and at other times it dissolves into timbres that could be synthesizers, strings, or something for which there is no name yet. The new album “Strange Hands” will be released on April 17, 2026, and the festival falls right in the middle of the tour. The Stadt.Bau.Raum, with its glass-enclosed, illuminated stage atop the old ventilation shaft, is the perfect venue where Aarset’s bewitching soundscapes take on a life of their own—a quality that can only be hinted at elsewhere.