Hedvig Mollestad Weejuns - Bitches Blues

Weejuns (a slang abbreviation of “Norwegians”) introduced themselves in 2023 with a self-titled double live album. Originally assembled for the Kongsberg Jazz Festival, Hedvig Mollestad (guitar), Ståle Storløkken (organ and synth) and drummer Ole Mofjell's collective chemistry has proven enduring and alluring, in part as a foil to the Hedvig Mollestad Trio’s heaviest album to date, 2025’s Bees in the Bonnet. 

“Weejuns is all about interplay,” explains Mollestad, a former Young Jazz Talent of the Year and Artist in Residence in her native Norway. “Bitches Blues consists of six instrumental tracks, or stretches of music, with an extreme range of dynamics. Some are based around hefty beats, while other tracks are far more lyrical and rubato. It ranges from riff-based rock-ish stuff, to loud chaos, to melancholy ballads and even totally free improvisations.” Taking a cultured yet refreshingly instinctive approach to intertwining instruments and influences, Bitches Blues (a wry play on Miles Davis album Bitches Brew) veers unpredictably from slow and soft, distinctly sectioned songs with disciplined chord progressions to explosive eruptions of cathartic and complex structures.