Wollo, Erik

Artist: Erik Wollo & Byron Metcalf
P: 2016
Electronic musician Erik Wøllo joins tribal-trance percussionist Byron Metcalf for an elegant album weaving melodic, vibrant soundscapes with subtle, grounding rhythms.
Earth Luminous stirs the memory on an outing through luminescent electronic ambient music where the ethereal is anchored and activated by steady, tactile frame drums and percussive patterns. Byron’s tight-to-the-grid substratum pulse serves as a conduit to Erik’s lush, emotive and expansive atmospheres. Together, the two sonic explorers find a meeting place where vapor trails and glowing man-made cityscapes reveal that we, the modern humans, are the ones who bring into existence the enlightened earth: our explorations illuminate to bring cascading insight.
Erik and Byron met at SoundQuest Fest 2010 hosted by Steve Roach in Tucson, AZ. Although they did not have the opportunity to perform together, they were impressed with each other’s sets and discussed the idea of collaborating on an album. After five years working on their own solo music, the duo reconnected to record this hybrid collaboration between continents and cultures. The pieces bring together a vast selection of synthesizers and electric guitars mixed with various acoustic hand drums and ​percussion​ instruments. Seven of the ​eight tracks were composed via audio files exchanged from Norway to Arizona and back again; while “Linked Stars,” the final and most spacious track, was recorded live in Byron’s studio in Arizona.
Erik says: “My original vision with this project was to combine my etheric elements with grounded and reality-oriented ​rhythmic grooves (or patterns) as the basic foundation for the music; a sound flowing freely along with the currents all the time balancing the dark with the light. I have worked with many drummers over the years, but with Byron everything fell into the right place. He’s been a professional musician for over five decades and has worked with some of the best players you can imagine. One of his real strengths is his ability to ​create the absolute right solutions for any melodic or rhythmical texture, making the arrangements complete. I noticed very quickly that he has a certain skill of playing towards and supporting a leading melody – a skill only an experienced drummer can understand.”
The dramatic images of the album cover reflect the music’s contemplative and timeless perception of our planet. Seeing the world from above from an airplane’s cockpit (in photos taken by pilot Ian Dutton) reveals reflective perspectives of the earth below: a magnificent visual confluence of the sky and the glittering nighttime urban city lights.
Earth Luminous’ lustrous soaring themes, moving electronic drones, and bedrock ​rhythmic patterns drift and unfold in a lush electronic treatment of modern instrumental music. Cycles of layered synthesizers, harmonies, introspective slow-motion soundscaping, vibrant acoustic percussion, and illuminated electric guitar produce expansive and fluid tracks. The results are deeply​ thoughtful, seductive musings upon a radiant​ earth.

Artist: Erik Wollo & Deborah Martin
P: 2009
American Indian inspired soundscapes taken to a deeper level.
Between Worlds is a dynamic and daring collaboration between widely respected ambient electronic recording artists Deborah Martin and Erik Wøllo. This album is a profound experience that delivers from the first track to the last, teleporting the listener to a place, or more succinctly, a ceremonial space; honoring and invoking the spirit of the American Indian.
Deborah shares some insight into the essence of the work, “The American Indian believes there are two worlds – the world of spirit and the world of form. Creating a bridge between the two worlds are ritual, healing and magic. The music process presented here was created to represent with sound this bridge between the worlds.” Erik adds, “It is important to hear the voices of the past and how they lived in tune with the rhythm and spirit of the earth. With Between Worlds, we delved deeply into the experience, capturing the feeling of this American Indian heritage with sounds and compositions.”
On site location recordings, authentic American Indian instruments, and sonic soundspaces by contributing artist Steve Roach, augment these beautifully composed vignettes, delicately and respectfully illuminating life, Between Worlds.

Artist: Erik Wollo &Michael Stearns
P: 2020
CONVERGENCE ranges from slowly-evolving contemplative and reflective tracks like “Somewhere in the distance” and “Subterranean Canyon” to hypnotically pulsing rhythmic movements in “The Nomad’s Journey” or the “The Herald.” The album is a subtle interplay between these two pioneering artists’ mystical and emotional sonic styles, developing an inner resonance of expressive reveries that venture into dark mystical terrain as the album progresses.

Artist: Erik Wollo & Bernhard Wöstheinrich
P: 2014    
DIN 46
LTD 500
Norwegian ambient guitarist Erik Wøllo and German synthesist Bernhard Wöstheinrich are familiar names to aficionados of the DiN label. They previously collaborated in 2009 on the album Arcadia Borealis (DiN34) but have also been involved in several other DiN project collaborations. Most notably Wøllo in conjunction with DiN label boss Ian Boddy on Frontiers (DiN39) and Wöstheinrich also with Boddy on Moiré (DiN18). During a visit to Germany in 2010 to attend the Schallwelle Prize ceremony for which Arcadia Borealis had been nominated Erik spent some time with Bernhard working on new ideas for a follow up album. Due to the busy work schedule of both musicians the gestation of this project grew intermittently over the next three years. They exchanged ideas and gradually those initial sketches coalesced into their second collaborative album Weltenuhr (German for World Clock). Pushing the boundaries of ambient electronica there is a strong vocal presence to the album with a beautiful, haunting female voice on the opener Gales as well as the albums title track. These pieces complement the other fully instrumental tracks which range from the pounding beat driven Subgiants to the ethereal Echoes Of Parlours. Bernhard’s inventive textural rhythms provide the perfect backdrop for Wøllo’s soaring E-bow guitar melodies on tracks such as Oculus and Denser World.  Beautifully mastered by Lee Fletcher and with an intriguingly abstract cover image Weltenuhr is yet again another quality ambient electronica release from the DiN label.

Artist: Erik Wollo
P: 2012
Here Erik takes things to a more introspective height offering a grand breathing space of expansive warm electronics and sparkling guitars. At the same time, electronic beats course in and out of the tracks with a potent mix of melodic electric guitar weaving through the electronic sequencer grooves on tracks such as "Airborne 2," "North of the Mountain" and "Time River." There are also wonderful forays into ambient soundscapes on beatless songs like "Lost and Found," The Longest Day and "Airborne 3," with a hazy flow of guitars, layered swirling synths and vivid airy effects. This is new age music that plunges the listener into an exotic dream, gently guiding the emotions via the masterfully conceived flow of the material.
"A blend of light and dark, alien and familiar. Flowing ambient sounds are punctuated by moments of drama and rhythmic intensity, melding the ambient, electronica, and progressive fusion genres." - Bill Binkelman/New Age Retailer.
Erik's two milestone collaborative albums with Steve Roach - Stream of Thought (PRO224, 2009) and The Road Eternal (PRO259, 2011) - influenced his musical path on Airborne, inspiring the exploration of the terrain between melodic electronic and modern minimalism.
For all lovers of evocative, floating ambience and lush electronic sound painting, Airborne represents an inviting musical journey. The lavish layered soundscapes take the listener to ethereal and soaring heights that produce textural vistas of delicate grandeur and shimmering eternal elegance.
Erik says, "Imagine you are sitting on an airplane. The power of the engine moves you forward over the landscape and everything you know passes below. You have the perfect overview; you see your life and your existence more clearly, with a continuous flow of thoughts. The journey becomes more of a travel in psychic time, rather than just taking you from place A to B, using hours and minutes. I explored this sense of an Airborne feeling while working on these tracks. It's music that is both adventurous and uplifting."

Artist: Erik Wollo
P: 2015
As a bridge leading to a new uncharted continent, Erik Wøllo's BLUE RADIANCE transports the listener along innovative, shimmering and sonorous musical pathways. The nineteenth solo album from this renowned Norwegian ambient/electronic artist continues to develop and refine his masterfully crafted soundworld into an intensely detailed fusion of elegant compositions and deep atmospherics. Built around catchy and accessible melodies and rhythms, BLUE RADIANCE's eleven new compositions feature sophisticated and engaging waves of Wøllo's trademark processed electric guitar, occasional acoustic guitars, synthesizers and percussion. Striking, varied, and deeply emotional, the tracks open up when the guitar surfaces out of the swirls, revealing soul-stirring themes rich with melancholy and hope. It's that interplay -- the contrast of the lead lines with the washes of sound and minimal piano -- which make for an intensely powerful listening experience. John Diliberto of Echoes Radio wrote of Wøllo's previous album Timelines: "Recording since 1983, releasing 18 solo albums in that span plus collaborations with musicians like Steve Roach, Ian Boddy and Kouame Sereba, Wøllo shows a command of detailed orchestrations and dramatic melodies...(this) could be a gentle walk through a Norwegian forest and easily devolve into New Age prettiness. But throughout the walk, Wøllo has ambient atmospheres swirling at the edges, leaving them unfocused and mysterious. There's a darkness that balances the light, a dark undertow that serves to put his melodies in beautiful bas relief. And then of course, there's the thudding percussion and spiraling EBow solos that reveals this is no country walk."
 The album's most active pieces are built upon arcs of rhythm and layers of sequencer patterns -- with Wøllo's lead lines setting the pace. "Revealed in Time," "Pathway" and "Osmosis" all have dramatic percussive punctuations with pulsating arpeggios and deep analog bass. The etheral tracks "BLUE RADIANCE," "Moon Above" and "Crystal Orbits" soar and dive in open, airy sections that stretch through time. These quiet, introspective and slowly unfolding pieces have a musical vastness of space, highly lush and expansive washes, powerfully evocative and soothing translucence. "Sepia" is more acoustic, featuring guitars and piano which evoke a warm nostalgia: an organic sonic texture contrasted with long and elegant guitar EBow lines. "Earth Sky" closes this journey with beautifully hazy synth swells added with distant soaring guitar voices. An utterly suspended, lyrical and sublime outro. Hypnagogue wrote about Timelines: "... as always it's a very pleasant place to visit. Emotional and filled with sonic imagery, it absolutely demands repeat listens. Superb work from a true master of the craft." The album title BLUE RADIANCE suggests music from the blue and icy tone spectrum: from the darker blue to the almost snowy white. The striking album cover image by Michał Klimczak depicts a bridge headed into another land, a metaphor for the music which carries the listener to the unknown. BLUE RADIANCE is an album highlighting Wøllo's extraordinary luminous mastery.

Artist: Erik Wollo
P: 2017
LTD 500
Cinematic’s nearly fifty minutes of melodic mesmerizing electronic music is shimmeringly sweeping and emotionally engaging. The eight song collection remixes and blends previously unreleased material (from 1998 through 2003) created as soundtracks for video, documentary film and multimedia. The eight song collection of synth and guitar-based melodic electronic/ambient music guides the listener through diverse, cinematic perspectives. The expansive rhythmic sequencer-based sections intersperse with ambient zones and soaring electric guitar textures. These are soundscapes created to complement a story or an event, yet still possess their own self-containing inner life.
“Scoring for other media is a quite different experience from composing for album releases,” Erik reflects. “It forces me to take different artistic solutions when diving into other’s creative worlds. Often this makes the music more passionate, adventurous and storytelling than what I usually compose. These pieces show the depth and beauty of the process. I have a lot of material from these years in my archives; after some intense studio sessions and reflecting back, I found that these tracks sort of belonged together. They all have a boundless, sonorous and textural character. Sometimes very rhythmic, sometimes very ambient and abstract. Aural landscapes that possess a sense of drama, full of feeling and powerfully evocative.”
Wollo’s signature use of shining, consonant chord structures, tender melodic phrasing, and masterful sound design give Cinematic its adventurous and vibrant character.
All songs, edited, remixed and remastered in 2017.

Artist: Erik Wollo
P: 2023
LTD 500
After many years and many electronic music albums, Norway’s Erik Wøllo returns home, in a sense, on Cloud of Strings. Created on an assemblage of acoustic guitars, his 14th Projekt solo album sees Wøllo explore the instrument he first loved.
It’s an album of twelve melodic moods — an intimate collection showcasing a fresh perspective on Wøllo’s artistic range and versatility. With reflections of his previous critically acclaimed guitar- music albums — Guitar Nova (1998) and Blue Sky, Red Guitars (2004) — Wøllo imaginatively combines intricate finger picking patterns and sweet-sounding themes with dreamy and enchan- ting processing for a sparkling change of pace. Erik masterfully manipulates the strings with elevated clouds of dulcet layered sound. It is musical spellwork driven by clear and resonant acoustic melody.

Artist: Erik Wollo
P: 2017
Different Spaces from renowned Norwegian electronic musician Erik Wøllo is a diverse and sweeping 2-CD release. Spanning 2 hours and 45 minutes, his 21st full-length album is a monumental statement ranging from slowly-drifting kaleidoscopic passages, epic soaring guitar melancholy, upbeat ever-changing sequenced cycles, and charismatic compelling melodies. Possessing a sense of drama and storytelling, the 22 new compositions explore and expand upon his 35 years of musical experience. Using electric guitar as his primary melodic instrument, Wøllo creates sustained and seamless tapestries revealing wide-ranging and wide-angled compositions masterfully orchestrated across two disks. The music traverses the different spaces that occupy an artist’s creative thoughts across mesmerizing landscapes of distinctive panoramas, rhythmic realms, and engaging, engulfing atmospheres. Erik says, “I wanted to do it differently this time: longer pieces, open and extended, spreading out the sonic elements and transitions in time. I aimed to combine everything into a continuous and balanced aural flow, together with my ethereal tones and timbres. Last year I worked exclusively on this album. I composed a lot of material; there were over 40 tracks to choose from and to really express the variety, a 2-CD release was clearly what I had in mind.“ Different Spaces is electronic music with an evocative and symbolic approach. Erik’s background in 70s progressive rock shines through. The sequencer aesthetic and other aspects of the era’s technology form the basic foundation on many of these tracks. Modern pulsing and immersive soundscapes provide measured momentum to steadily move through the morphing patterns and textures. “If music or art does not send me to a certain spot or a setting, I am not very interested,” Erik comments. “It’s a sense of being somewhere. This is a very important part on this release: the awareness of a connection with place, subjectivity and feeling. Within this, I delve into my curiosity about what’s in my subconscious. In the subconscious there are all kinds of iconic sounds, visions and mythic fragments.” This vast release takes the listener to different places and spaces on 22 uniquely compelling auditory episodes.

Artist: Erik Wollo
P: 2015
LTD 300
Echo: a reflection of sound, arriving at the listener some time after the direct sound. Tides: the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of gravitational forces exerted by the Moon, Sun, and rotation of the Earth.
ECHOTIDES is highly engaging and meditative with a delicate and finely structured symbiosis between the slow motion atmospheres, sparse melodic lines and detailed rhythms (accentuated by the contributions from percussionist Kouame Sereba on two tracks.)
"Echo and tides, these two natural phenomena inspired this music," Erik says. "They were in the back of my mind as I worked. Incidents surround us all the time; life develops in cycles, oceans move in cycles; the constantly moving, ebbing and flowing present, forever repetitive. I use these terms as metaphors for the sound and structures in the compositions." Released in an extremely limited collector's edition of 300, this EP consists of 7 new tracks covering 43 minutes.
"I started this project by recording various loops using my guitars and the two new special effect pedal boards that I assembled," Erik continues. "I collected various brand's pedals and devices, put together in a chain. Devices for looping, harmonizing and other effects.
"I spent several months of improvising, just collecting ideas. I then selected the best suited pieces and augmented them with sequenced synthesizers and percussion elements. The whole idea for 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."
ECHOTIDES is deeply expansive and contemplative electronic music. These sonic identities reflect the ever-changing alternatives in nature and our environments. It's music that is rich in depth and colors with echoes of memories and imaginary places, epic dimensions and a minimalist's restrained elegance.

Artist: Erik Wollo
P: 2007
Norwegian guitarist and synthesist Erik Wøllo is back with a fine collection of carefully crafted compositions. Whereas Red Guitars, Blue Guitars was built around that instrument, Elevations goes back to Wøllo's trademark sound of creatively seamlessly blending guitars, synthesizers and programming. These are light, lilting melodies that you can hum long afterward. Lush atmospheric textures abound, wrapping each song in a gentle cocoon of sound. As on the last album, colors remain a major theme. “Red Odyssey” is imbued with warmth and light, as percussion takes a wavering guitar lead on a meandering carefree journey. “Blue Odyssey” is colder, sharper, the percussion punching its way through, though the melody remains bright. “Green Odyssey” is softer and moves along at a carefree pace. In between are a number of highly accessible tunes for easy listening, some rhythmic some not, some lighter some a shade darker, although lighter is the order of the day for the most part.

Artist: Erik Wollo
P: 2003
A delicate musical connection between physical environments and landscapes of the soul.
Inspired by memories of his native Norway, Erik Wøllo offers an intricate and profound musical interpretation of the visual and tangible as a metaphor for the internal esoteric landscapes of the imagination. EMOTIONAL LANDSCAPES features deep floating ambiences, infused with the unique vitality of Wøllo's guitars and electronics. A magnificent vista, waiting to be heard.

Artist: Erik Wollo
P: 2010
Gateway is both lyrical and rhythmic, emphasizing melodic and structural formations; modern electronic music explores vast panoramas and limitless horizons. Graceful chiming themes ring out against ambient textures and delicate chord structures with a highly listenable appeal. It is a gentle musical journey through soundscapes of synthesizers and electric guitars. Orchestrated layers of sounds make this a deep listening experience where new details are discovered on each successive listening.
"There is always a meditative attitude," Erik reflects, "recollections from dreams and reality suggesting the mysterious. Every artist has their own unique inner landscape that emulates where they were born and raised, influencing the creative expression. By reflecting all the different kinds of music that you have been hearing through your lifetime, Gateway is a mirror of time."
Gateway has 12 tracks carefully sequenced like parts in a symphony or as the soundtrack to a film exploring new undiscovered places. The cinematic songs have unique moods from piece to piece beginning with gentle "Land of Myths," a slow introduction to the story. Wøllo continues with the more rhythmic "First Arrival," launching elements later refined as separate songs. The titles all describe the journey: "A Sublime Place," "The Mental Trail" and "Wetlands." The album ends with a long and sustaining piece, "Thule," suggesting a trip even further north into the future. An open end to a sonic journey.
This album is a new era of Wøllo's music where emotional atmospheres flow into expansive ambient textures. An album that combines intense and serene passages with masterful performances. It is New Instrumental Music with both symphonic qualities and more sublime, varied dynamic structures. Soar in abstract space elements with the unmistakable style of this critically acclaimed artist.

Artist: Erik Wollo
P: 2000
Acoustic guitar music. Rhythmic and Melodic music.
Guitar Nova represent a new direction in the career of Erik Wollo. On this album he goes back and picks up his acoustic guitars again, like he did on his very first albums. Various acoustic guitars that appears as an ensemble of new and exciting musical landscapes. These tracks reflects a musical experience that covers a wide range of styles. Here are fragments from jazz, classical, etnic and ambient music, carefully blended together in a new and higly original musical content.
All music performed by Erik Wollo on diverse acoustic guitars and stringed instruments. On one of the tracks, higly acclaimed norwegian jazzmusician Jon Eberson appears, as a guest soloist on acoustic guitar. All music is composed and produced by Erik Wollo in his Wintergarden Studio in Norway, and reflects his long time experience with modern digital studiotechnology.

Artist: Erik Wollo
P: 2018
INFINITE MOMENTS is an hour of ambient electronic music from veteran Norwegian composer Erik Wøllo. Across nearly four decades, 40 albums encompass Erik’s unique mix of layered synthesizers, melodic guitars and expansive percussion. This time he takes a different approach — there are no synthesizers! The album is performed entirely on electric guitars processed with the diffused sustain of the EBow and layered note structures of harmonizers. No rhythms, only long, vast and engaging soundscapes. Minimal, extended and infinite in its essence, the album is a meditative inward journey of stillness and reflection — an emotional mapping of the mind, beautifully weightless and contemplative. These six long, luminous and timeless moments are built upon multiple independent guitar loops of various length, overlapping and merging into slow drifting sections of continuously evolving combinations. Each loop was recorded live in the studio using a different type of guitar creating rich ensembles of unity. It’s a detailed musical language of floating guitars: hearing the strings resonate and vibrate between the fingers and the Ebow creates brilliant and sparkling tones that shine and stand out as unique and organic. “I envisioned a concept using just a few essential instrumentations,” Erik reflects, “with a minimalist approach where the melody and accompaniment are one. Each track has its own identity, yet all have a similar calm, longing and endless feeling. The color palette is essentially more reduced than my other work, and the tracks retain a similar suspended level throughout. Here are no crescendos or high points. This is not so much about a narrative telling a story, but rather more like a satellite floating free and weightless in space.” Erik continues, “When I listen to these tracks with these ever-changing structures I experience a static state of mind that continues unchanged. It could go on and last forever never ending where time seems to stand still. It is very focused where nothing else seems to matter.” INFINITE MOMENTS is a new adventure in sonic dimension from Erik Wøllo. It’s a contemplative solitude, a dreamy portal of shimmering and everlasting emotions. 

Artist: Erik Wollo
P: 2021
The new album from renowned Norwegian ambient/electronic artist Erik Wollo evolved from layers of sustained guitars inspiring infinite space and a minimal essence, creating a spell of slow, melodic calming soundscapes. The sustained Ebow guitars aim the music in a totally new expansive direction with melodic elements, rhythmic arpeggio loops and some percussion added to the treated guitar ensembles. The mood sets the emotional course: vast and spacious, minimalistic and sparse in character. NORTH STAR is an inward journey of stillness and reflection. Music that shifts between contemplation and intimacy, impulse and reflection.

Artist: Erik Wollo
P: 2021
LTD 300
Following his acclaimed 2020 collaboration with American synthesist Michael Stearns (CONVERGENCE, PRO371) renowned Norwegian ambient / electronic artist Erik Wøllo returns with 2021’s RECURRENCE. An intensely detailed fusion of elegant compositions and deep atmospherics, it’s a gleaming sonic journey — a timeless dreamlike pilgrimage revisiting the sound and feel of past moments with an essence of eternal renewal.

Delicately evocative synthesizer atmospheres are skillfully balanced with pulsating rhythmic passages. Wøllo’s trademark processed electric guitars, synthesizers, occasional acoustic guitars and percussion create a cohesive structure that bonds the pieces into a warm, breathing continuum. Conceived to unfold as one unit, the tracks are movements drawing the listener into a deep, adventurous flow.

Artist: Erik Wollo
P: 2022
Time shapes our world and our concepts. From earth’s erosion to patterns in nature ­ fossils, stone formations, crystalline ice, glaciers, or delicate shells ­ all visual images of forms show us the linear time which passed across them. Together, these ideas inspired Erik Wøllo in the creation of his latest album. With The Shape of Time, Norwegian composer Wollo transforms the abstract into nine com- positions of thoughtful and seductive ambient electronic music with melodic soaring themes, vast slow-moving drones and rhythmic patterns drifting in cycles of transmutable harmonies. These hushed and endless moments present an exquisite collection of moods and emotions. Ranging from the vigorous and earthy to mesmerizing, evocative and wistful late-night Nordic light-scenes. All created on synthesizers, samplers, electric and acoustic guitars. The Shape of Time invites one to the procession; it’s a sonic jewel for connoisseurs of shim- meringly expansive ambience traversed with filigreed instrumental intensity.

Artist: Erik Wollo
P: 2011
The 2-CD SILENT CURRENTS showcases a different side of Erik Wøllo's sound. Here he explores fascinating electronic / ambient landscapes with slow-motion structures, surreal soundscapes and floating currents. Drawn from two separate live radio broadcasts, 104 minutes of music traverse a more ambient, atmospheric and textural side than experienced on his other albums. Recorded in the studio of the famous Star's End radio show in Philadelphia, these performances from 2002 and 2007 are each a disc-long continuous piece with several chapters. With more focus on the deep drones than on melody and rhythm, zones drift and morph, organically flowing into each other. Layers of electronics and processed sound combine with light touches of electric guitar melody floating on top. Quiet, sparse and gentle electronic music with ambient passages mix with occasions of sequencer pulses.
With his focus on the deep drones and interwoven ambient tributaries, Wøllo creates a vivid soundtrack for the senses, taking the listener to the outer reaches of the imagination. Impressionistic electronic / ambient music at its best! Relax and float on the SILENT CURRENTS.