Product Description
2. Winter Tide, Part 2 08:42
3. Winter Tide, Part 3 09:21
4. Winter Tide, Part 4 04:25
5. Winter Tide, Part 5 04:20
6. Winter Tide, Part 6 04:54
7. Winter Tide, Part 7 10:59
8. Winter Tide, Part 8 07:52
9. Winter Tide, Full concert 01:00:15
Winter Tide is all-new electronic music composed for Erik Wøllo’s concert at SoundQuest Fest 2021. Wøllo’s one-hour continuous live set is now presented as a suite in 8 parts, capturing the magical musical mood of his effortless and beautiful performance.
“I wrote this music at my cottage,” Wøllo reflects, “which is located in a remote mountain landscape in Norway. Those weeks in March had nice, cold winter weather with an unusually high amount of snow. This pure, vast and dramatic scenery influenced the music. Winter Tide seemed a natural title for the whole suite. Imagine high snowy mountain peaks, frosty smoking rivers, sunlit hoarfrost trees, a cinematic landscape seen through ice rose windows of a warm cottage. A dynamic and sometimes eruptive and expressive performance results.”
Mastered at the highest audio quality possible, these tracks unveil the great subtleties and dimension of this captivating deep-listening performance.
SoundQuest Fest, first experienced as a live festival in Tucson, Arizona in 2010, is the creation of electronic music pioneer Steve Roach. Erik performed in 2010 and was invited again for the 2021 event. A worldwide gathering of artists and audience members united for this 3-day online festival, a groundbreaking moment for the genre: a continuous flow of streamed performances, audio-video wonder worlds and deep immersion zones. Wøllo was included alongside other highly-respected artists including Robert Rich, Michael Stearns, Ian Boddy, Chuck van Zyl, Jeff Greinke, Serena Gabriel and Steve Roach.
Gapless-flow fans: the entire 8-track album is presented as a continuous current as track #9 on the digital.
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From Exposé
Soundquest Fest 2021 was a three day music festival in Tucson, Arizona hosted by ambient music pioneer Steve Roach; featuring artists from the United States and Europe, it ran from March 26th through 28th. The event consisted of streamed live performances, interviews, videos, and deep immersion zones that ran continuously over the three day event. During the event, needless to say, my eyes and ears were glued to my computer every waking minute — there was always something going on that one wouldn’t want to miss. Needless to say, Wøllo’s set was among the many memorable performances of that weekend, an hour of continuous sound that he produced using electric guitars, synths, loops, and effects. Within a few days most of the performances of that weekend were available to watch again on YouTube, including Wøllo’s, which was written at his remote cabin in the far north of Norway, and streamed into Tucson during the event. The video of his performance is still available on YouTube as of this writing, but Winter Tide is the audio document of that performance, downloadable from Projekt’s Bandcamp site. The piece’s mood shifts and morphs over its one-hour duration, so it is presented twice: once in a suite of eight separate movements that correspond to the primary shifts in Wøllo’s composition, and again following that as a full one hour continuum with no gaps. Of course those who have well-behaved MP3 players will hear the entire performance twice, which one will probably want anyway. At this point it doesn’t look like there are any plans to release it on CD, but with the name-your-price download, for a few dollars one can get a full hour of Wøllo’s powerful celestial music that isn’t available on any of his other recordings. -Peter Thelen
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From Ambient Blog
Winter Tide is a one-hour set, presented here as eight separate tracks as well as in a gapless edition.
“Imagine high snowy mountain peaks, frosty smoking rivers, sunlit hoarfrost trees, a cinematic landscape seen through ice rose windows of a warm cottage.”
A captivating and subtle performance that demonstrates Erik Wøllo’s skills in more than one way. If you want to take a closer look at him performing, I also recommend checking out the YouTube video of this performance.
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From Star’s End
How many ways are there to be human? By seeking transcendence in the crucible of the concert Erik Wøllo validates his existence in the showcase of live performance. With Winter Tide (60’14”) he adds another enduring work to his discography – this one realized for SoundQuest Fest 2021. Released during a summer when thinking feels like a big ask, this eight part suite unfolds in slow, cooling sighs of sparkling synthetic sounds. As soaring guitar-driven anthems head for the sky, this album’s confident melodies hold fast to the heart. Sending his instrument through a labyrinth of digital processing Wøllo’s playing yields a rich and varied palette of textures and tones. Alongside silvery lead lines he deploys chords of steel strings – which ride atop rising rhythms of electronic precision. The overflow of magical musical moments impacts us at a level deeper than that of words.
Arresting, absorbing and rewarding, Winter Tide freezes time by inundating the mind with thought. Searching and contemplative, then striding into the deep, it achieves a satisfying, constant level of high thinking. The bright spots are incandescent, and we are moved by the concord of sweet sounds – only to sink into icy waters, where the turbulence really attracts the ears. The recital setting allowed room for risk. In this familiar space Wøllo discovers a potent sense of drama – heard in the unique energy exuded throughout each track. Subtle in all the right ways Winter Tide/Live at SoundQuest Fest 2021 was made for a particular kind of listener – determined to collect unique feelings and enjoy each span of sonic goodness while it lasts. Finding our way into this music is a familiar adventure – one where we learn the secrets that we knew all along. -Chuck van Zyl/STAR’S END 22 July 2021