Erik Wollo: Echotides (Digital)

Reviews

1. 

   Reviews Editor – April 13, 2016

   From Darkroom

   Il biennio 2015-16 sembra essere un momento di risveglio di molti dei protagonisti della scena ambient. Dopo Steve Roach, ecco che anche Erik Wøllo, altro purosangue della scuderia di Sam Rosenthal, realizza un nuovo EP dal titolo evocativo di Echotides. Il campione della chitarra trattata e dei paesaggi sconfinati torna con un lavoro di 7 pezzi, tutti rigorosamente senza titolo, a rimarcare l’assoluta centralità della musica come flusso di emozione, senza intermediazioni linguistiche. Echotides conferma quanto di buono ci aveva mostrato il precedente full-lenght “Blue Radiance”: i caratteri sono sempre quelli della musica di Erik, ovvero synth e chitarra lavorata nei modi più disparati, che ogni volta però riescono a suscitare emozioni diverse.

   È così che nasce il primo brano, ipnotico con il suo massiccio muro di synth, mentre nel secondo pezzo si impone un suono di chitarra ben definito e melodico, ad alleggerire il medesimo e imponente wall of sound sintetico. Mentre la terza traccia rimanda ad echi di Tangerine Dream e atmosfere un po’ più cupe, le due successive si aprono all’uso di sottili percussioni che ne aumentano il tasso ritmico: più esotica e diretta la numero quattro, più complessa la cinque. Solo nelle ultime due tracce le atmosfere tornano ad avvicinarsi all’ambient più classico, con una rarefazione dei suoni molto intrigante. Va detto che questo EP nulla aggiunge ma nemmeno nulla toglie a ciò che il compositore norvegese ha dimostrato in questi anni, diventando figura di riferimento per l’intera scena ambient. La sua voglia di sperimentare, il suo essere anticonvenzionale, ne fanno un musicista unico nel suo genere. Echotides è un ottimo lavoro che tuttavia non fornisce elementi di novità nel sound di Erik, e per questo è consigliabile a chi già conosce l’opera, fra l’altro vastissima, di questo valido sperimentatore del suono. -Ferruccio Filippi

2. 

   Reviews Editor – January 11, 2016

   From Sonic Curiosity

   This 2015 release features 43 minutes of delicate electronic music.

   Track one begins with bobbing pulsations amid a delicious fog of swelling tonalities. Those pulsations establish a languid melody that is soon augmented by additional texturals, deepening the sonic pool with alluring embellishments. Eventually, trembling bell-like shimmers emerge to accompany the electronic flow to its sparkling conclusion.

   Denser background atmospherics are present in the next piece. A gently plucked guitar contributes a dreamy enhancement to the harmonic generated by the sashaying backdrop.

   The third track adopts a more spry demeanor with a Philip Glass-like keyboard loop that is soon joined by vaporous threads which entwine to create a soothing environment. As the song progresses, those foundational oscillations produce complimentary melodies. Together, everything evokes a gentle ascension into glorious light.

   A different type of buoyant pulses open the fourth piece. Auxiliary electronics support this cavorting thread. All the while, a chugging presence emerges to guide the tune through majestic variations. Subsequent effects enter the mix, each one embellishing the overall gestalt until a lush melody is achieved.

   Track five employs a selection of bouncy sounds (akin to sprung springs) to craft a glacial rhythm supported by flowing astral tones that contribute sweeping harmonics to the central springing theme. A gentle warble slides into play, slightly reminiscent of a steel violin, injecting a classical edge to this pleasantly agile tune.

   The sixth piece features a calming combination of amiable keyboards and silver tones that float on mercurial currents. They generate a passage of congenial beauty.

   The last track opens with a quasi-harmonium drone that gradually coaxes a march of jovial pulsations into play. The drone persists, adopting endearing qualities as it gains strength. Eventually, the pulsations shine and reveal their true authority as the tune’s coda.

   A lovely dose of dreamy electronics infused with a touch of oomph. -Matt Howarth

3. 

   Reviews Editor – October 27, 2015

   From Synth & Sequences

   “You want soft ambient rhythms which make dance sweet harmonies? Harmonies which will leave indelible traces in your ears? You are at the right spot with this Echotides!”
   Ambient rhythms filled by melodious moods
   I like the music of Erik Wollo! The sonic bard of Norway made a success of the improbable in this universe; have his own sound etiquette that we hear only throughout his sources of inspiration. His inspirations are translated into guitar loops which he likes to put together into long sonic filaments for melancholic atmospheres. Forged in this concept, where he is also experimenting new devices and effects of pedals, “Echotides” offers seven reflections on tides and echoes, among which two main themes which are running on some subtle variations. An album bewitching with delicately enveloping rhythms, like always!

   Tootings more seraphic than spectral introduce the first harmonious measures of Echotides with the opening of “Echotides No.1”. Astral synth waves are covering these harmonious loops of a dense melancholic veil that a delicate line of bass brings to a level of peaceful rhythmic structure. The movement is minimalist and slides slowly towards some electronic percussions which mold a pleasant morphic down-tempo. One of the many pleasures in Erik Wollo’s music! “Echotides No.2” leads us towards some clearly more meditative horizons with a mixture of lines of synth and guitar which forge the magnificence of the Norwegian winds. Erik Wollo lays here some delicate solos from his six-string always so nostalgic. The sweetness element seems essential in the Wollo universe, and this even with rhythms molded on sequences combined with the effects of guitars. At this level, “Echotides No.3” is a superb example with a dreamlike structure where are floating thick masses of breezes with the charms as attractive as their sound colors. “Echotides No.4” reformulates the ghostly melody, which seems to roam everywhere in this E.P., over a structure of rhythm slightly more accentuated than on “Echotides No.3”. But here the effects of jerks and percussions sculpture a slightly spasmodic ambient rhythm. And these loops of harmonies forge in our ears a worm from which we shall whistle all day long. The nuances are very beautiful with lines of guitars which float like tears while the rhythm offers more depth with the addition of a well felt line of bass in the middle part. These last two tracks are doubtless the best moments in Echotides, although I like this delicate ambient serenade which is “Echotides No.6”.”Echotides No.5″ continues the exploration of the rhythmic diversities of this last Erik Wollo’s E.P. with jolts of sequences filled with organic tones which swirl under the multiple colors of Wollöian breezes. “Echotides No.7″concludes Echotides with a slow ambient movement which reminds me so much of Steve Roach. An artist who influenced this rather particular universe where also here Erik Wollo always seems to find a symphony on the cliffs of his native Norwegian. A beautiful album, always so tenderly poetic, which is available only in downloadable format. The first 300 manufacture-pressed CD having all been sold… -Sylvain Lupari (October 26th, 2015)

4. 

   Reviews Editor – October 8, 2015

   From StarsEnd.org
   All about the pleasure of music, Echotides (43’11”) was Erik Wøllo’s outlet for a remarkable reserve of intellectual and manual virtuosity. Inhabiting temperaments on the verge of freezing, the seven tracks lodge in the ear and stay with the mind. Cascading melodies and consonant harmonies gently mix with atmospheric subtleties in a lush electronic treatment of contemporary instrumental music. Muted rhythms and soft percussion loops easily cycle amid Wøllo’s ethereal guitar lines – his plucked, strummed and e-bowed strings softly converted into concentration zones of a stopped world. The compositions then wind out in lively propulsive scenes – each of which leaving an invisible train of chilled air in its wake. Wøllo effectively translates impulses into arctic explorations of the earth and of the mind, but each listener will have their own individual interpretation of Echotides. For Erik Wøllo success is a simple measure of dedication to his artistic path. The beauty of his life in music is that every moment is a phenomenon described in a way that is both precise and deeply felt. With each release he becomes sharper and more confident. At the extreme high end of his skill set, Erik Wøllo offers an explanation of what it means to be human. The slow advance of modern culture seems to have been paid for by a reduction in our humanity, which is so gradual that we barely feel it fading away. All of us hold deep within ourselves the idea of myth, and Wøllo’s epic realizations offer us a means to connect with this forgotten fundamental feeling.

5. 

   Reviews Editor – September 14, 2015

   From Sonic Immersion

   The atmospheric/cinematic and overtly relaxed music which Mr. Wøllo offers on the 43-minute EP Echotides will suit all who love Erik’s contemplative ambient style and expansive textural outings.

   The uplifting and positive approach already featured on the opening piece is one of pure delight, later on shifting to introspective, slow motion soundscaping and lush electric guitar musings wherein melody is rather sparse. Even washes of melancholy shines through the veins of this album, most notably on “Echotides No. 6”.

   The release’s refined and carefully molded sonic minimalism has ended up in the creation of seven instrumental tracks built upon interacting fragments of sound and processed textures, all blended together and forming a constant morphing endless flow. As such, it gives an appealing voice to the cyclic, natural and harmonic evolving manner of the music, inspired by the natural phenomena echo and tides. -Bert Strolenberg

6. 

   Reviews Editor – August 26, 2015

   From Ambientblog

   I have no idea why this is called an EP, because with the total length of 43 minutes it is longer than many other ‘full’ albums.
   Possibly Erik Wøllo calls it that because he doesn’t consider this to be a ‘full’ album, but rather a collection of improvised experiments using guitars and a collection of chained pedals and devices, later enriched with sequenced synthesizer and percussion elements.
   But whatever the reason, Echotides feels like a complete full album to me – and a rather nice and relaxing one too!
   “The whole idea of the project was to create a sustained and free floating selection of tracks built upon interacting fragments of sound and processed textures, all blended together and forming a constant morphing endless flow.”

7. 

   Reviews Editor – August 24, 2015

   From Textura

   Though it’s pitched as an EP (and a standalone at that, with none of its content scheduled to re-appear on a future album), Erik Wøllo’s Echotides is as substantial as a full-length in featuring seven pieces and being forty-three minutes long. Its content is very much in the vein of pure electronic music, with the Norwegian composer using electric guitars, guitar synthesizers, keyboards, and programming to produce the settings, and though it’s also very much a solo production by Wøllo, percussionist Kouame Sereba appears on two tracks. Rhythm isn’t absent on the other five, however, as Wøllo animates the synthesizer patterns on the opening “Echotide,” to cite one example, with a significant degree of propulsion. The EP’s sound is luscious but not overbearing, with the mood serene and the music, especially when buoyed by sequenced synthesizers and percussion elements, lulling.

   The recording’s appeal is bolstered by the presence of the electric guitar, which, it turns out, provided the impetus for the project when Wøllo recorded a number of loops using guitars and new special effect pedal boards he’d assembled. While lyrical guitar melodies elevate the contemplative second piece in particular, textures and effects generated by the instrument are subtly woven into the material’s fabric throughout the recording, so much so that it’s next to impossible to differentiate between a guitar-generated texture and one produced by synthesizer. The soft melodic phrase that surfaces towards the end of “Echotides No 3,” for instance, might just as easily be one sung by the guitar synthesizer as a standard keyboard synth.

   The EP title wasn’t selected randomly, by the way, as Wøllo deliberately set out to create material that would reflect the ebb and flow of tidal movements and cyclical movement in general. It’s this insistent rhythmic flow that helps unify the seven pieces, regardless of the differences between them.

8. 

   Reviews Editor – July 20, 2015

   From Sequenzer Welten

   Also diese Reihenfolge von Erik Wollo´s Veröffentlichungen gefällt mir! So wie es scheint, gibt es erst eine EP und dann, nach einer gewissen Zeit einen Longplayer …… mir kann es nur Recht sein. Echotides beschäftigt sich mit den Zyklen des Meeres und ist eine recht besinnliche, ruhige und meditative Angelegenheit, mit der uns Erik Wollo auf knapp über 40 Minuten mit seinem unverwechselbaren Sound mit eintauchen lässt. Es sind diesmal schön warme Klänge, die mit sehr dezenten Rhythmen auskommen. Irgendwie bekommt man sofort diese wohlige Wärme zu spüren …. einfach Herrlich!!

   Ich habe auch hier den Eindruck, dass Erik Wollo, ähnlich wie auf der Blue Radiance, sich wieder mehr an seinem ursprünglichen Soundlandschaften orientiert. Vielleicht mag es einige Hörer geben, die immer nur weiteren Fortschritt in der Musik erwarten, dass Musiker andere Wege gehen ….. ich jedoch geniesse diesen Sound von Erik!

   Nach erstmaligem Hören war meine Reaktion auch verhalten, die Echotides gefiel mir gut. Mehr erstmal nicht. Aber nach dem zweiten und dritten Lauf war es ein Musikgenuss der besonderen Art …. diese Musik muss sich erst entfalten. Und dabei wünsche ich euch viel, viel Spass!!

   Wunderbare Musik aus dem hohen Norden! -Uwe Sasse