Elsa Nilsson’s Band of Pulses Channels Change on New Album Liminal, out June 12 via Adhyâropa Records

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Flutist and composer Elsa Nilsson explores the "in-between" on Liminal, her new album with Band of Pulses, releasing on June 12 via Adhyâropa Records. Nilsson's 15th release as a leader and fourth with Band of Pulses, Liminal features adventurous and singular flutist Nilsson alongside pianist Santiago Leibson, bassist Marty Kenney and drummer Rodrigo Recabarren for an eight-part exploration that examines decision-making through the internal processes and actions that shape life-altering choices, both personal and collective.

"Liminality has been at the front of my mind recently," Nilsson states. "I've become fascinated with the in-betweens." The in-betweens — those transitional or initial stages of a process — serve as the inspiration behind the Brooklyn-based musician's most personal album yet. Composed entirely by Nilsson, each piece reflects a distinct phase within the cognitive process of navigating a significant turning point. Central to Liminal is Nilsson's observation that the mechanisms behind major life decisions operate the same way at both the personal and societal level: "I find it interesting how the mechanisms of making big, life-changing decisions are the same on both the micro and macro level of the human experience." Just as the Fibonacci sequence appears across nature, the internal processes Nilsson observed in herself mirror those she sees in the broader currents of social and political life.

Nilsson looked inward on Liminal, creating it during an eventful time personally, including the dissolution of a long-term relationship. The music reaches outward from that experience, connecting personal upheaval to the collective disillusionment of the times. "Music captures what it feels like to be alive in the moment when it is created, both on the personal and the societal level," she explains. The resulting eight tracks form an artful exploration of complex emotional terrain that is at once intimate and universal.

Across Liminal, each composition represents a distinct stage within a broader process of transformation. The album opens with "Andetag" (Swedish for "breath"), a meditation on gathering strength before confronting something difficult. Whether that hard thing is a personal truth or a larger social reality, Nilsson frames the breath as an act of preparation, the inhale of spirit required before any meaningful change can begin. Drawing from chemistry, "‡ Transition State" captures the suspended, high-energy moment before irreversible change, where doubt and momentum coexist. As Nilsson notes, these transition states exist in political and social life too: the interval between an election and an inauguration, or the time between a decision and its execution, are spaces where something significant is clearly happening, but its meaning only becomes legible in hindsight.

"Not Said, Not Heard" reflects the internal pressure of attempting to normalize the unlivable, tracing the psychological strain of cognitive dissonance as it accumulates and reshapes one's inner and outer world. Like a wave hitting a rocky beach, the flashpoints that expose this tension cover everything momentarily before sinking into consciousness, eventually forcing a reckoning with a new reality. That tension gives way to "Capacity," which oscillates between periods of perceived calm and explosion, illustrating the breaking point once cognitive dissonance has reached its limit. The piece also speaks to the uneven way this pressure is distributed: some are shielded from uncomfortable realities by circumstance or privilege, while for others, the personal and societal collide in ways that cannot be ignored.

On "Yesterday's Promise," shifting perspectives are embodied through a flexible bass line, mirroring the fragile negotiation between holding one's ground and losing oneself in compromise. The bass represents a shared reality, while everything around it bends, illustrating how the same set of facts can be interpreted in entirely different directions when certain truths go unaddressed. Nilsson shifts gears on the next composition: "1 year, 10 months, 3 days for Ahmaud Arbery." A flashpoint in both her personal and social reckoning, the piece was written on November 24th, exactly 1 year, 10 months and 3 days after Ahmaud Arbery was shot while going for a run. The compositional structure reflects that date, with the first part comprising 24 bars and the second 11 bars (24/11). "There is a point, a moment, a switch in every liminal state that creates an understanding," Nilsson explains. "These are the points from which we can imagine a different reality, where we step into the next version of our existence. Rage can be the fire that burns through illusions." She adds plainly: "I went for a run today without getting shot. That should be true for everyone. I don't find this to be a political or inflammatory statement, just a statement of fact."

"Mourning For Two," based on the call of the mourning dove woven into the melody, considers grief as an active, necessary process: the work of accepting the world as it is rather than as one wishes it to be. As Azita Ardakani Walton said: "Grief is a digestive enzyme." There is discomfort, Nilsson suggests, in honestly viewing one's own agency, or lack thereof, in a world one wishes were different. But that acceptance is a precondition for change. The album closes with "Stepping Away," a quiet but resolute emergence into selfhood, leaving behind systems, beliefs, and structures that no longer hold. "Allowing grief to peel away layers of identity and leave us standing with who we really are," she says, "...stepping into our own strength and moving toward an unknown life ahead."

On Liminal, most striking is the musical interplay between Nilsson, Leibson, Recabarren and Kenney, perfected by years of collaboration. Leibson, who hails from Argentina, most recently worked with Nilsson in duet on Quila Quina -40°17'38.21"S, -71°45'68.48"W, the second volume of her expansive Atlas of Sound series, while Chilean drummer Recabarren has been a long-standing member in many of Nilsson's ensembles since 2020. With the addition of wide-ranging bassist Kenney, Band of Pulses showcases four major creative forces on the New York jazz and improvised music scene at their peak. Their debut album as an ensemble, Pulses, was praised as "original, heartfelt and reaching" by Allen Michie of The Arts Fuse.

Liminal adds to Nilsson's growing discography, which reflects her astute perspective informed by deep research and immersion. Her eclectic recorded history includes the aforementioned Atlas of Sound series, which brings listeners into specific geographic locations through a multimedia approach; several albums with the Esthesis Quartet, of which she is a co-leader; and her social justice-tinged Hindsight, inspired by protests following the 2016 election. Like her previous projects, for Liminal she consulted various texts including Clarissa Pinkola Estés' The Women Who Run With The Wolves and James Baldwin's The Fire Next Time.

"At times, things move as slow as molasses and simultaneously too fast to be noticed," Elsa says. "I believe one of the magical aspects of music is its ability to hold each gradient of a moment for long enough that we can fully experience and observe it." With Liminal, Nilsson gives shape to the in-between, translating lived experience into a clear and deeply human musical statement.

Elsa Nilsson website click here

Thank you to Lydia Liebman for sharing with us