During recent years, Norwegian guitarist/synthesist Erik Wollo has achieved international notoriety with his solo releases (and collaborations with Steve Roach and Ian Boddy), notable for their vibrant blend of ambience and exciting contemporary electronic music.
HereÕs his latestÉ
ERIK WOLLO: Airborne (CD on Projekt)
This release from 2012 features 68 minutes of ethereal electronic music.
Wollo plays: electric guitars, guitar synthesizers, slide/fretless/Ebow guitars, bass, keyboards, samplers, percussion, and programming.
Bewitching tuneage that transports the listener into a realm of vaporous definition seasoned by exciting electronic and rhythmic embellishment.
Texturals abound, generated by both electronics and processed guitars. These atmospheric tapestries seethe with delicate beauty, ethereal yet glistening with latent potency.
Other electronics are present, but generally well hidden. Much of what you hear and would identify as the offspring of synthesizers actually comes from exotic guitars. Keyboards, though, contribute winsome riffs of crystalline grace.
Guitars of all sorts are employed in the creation of this music. Lovely sustains, chugging patterns, evocative strumming, celestial drones--all produced by strings under WolloÕs skillful direction, resulting in a vividly unearthly character that is wonderfully grounded.
Rhythms play a vital role here, infusing the melodies with a restrained puissance of alluring elegance. The tempos alternate between chugging beats and lush beats, all tempered with a soothing quality that rendered the rhythms vital but unintrusive.
These compositions manage to fuse ambience with an energized posture that can only be described as wondrous. The tunes waft like stratospheric breezes, yet are often punctuated by a zesty vitality that, despite their animation, retain a delightful gentility. Wollo possesses a superb ability to create melodies of endearing appeal.
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