White Willow

Michael Baryshnikov написал(а) к All в Dec 17 11:32:24 по местному времени:

Нello All!

Залит WhiteWillow/(2017)_FutureНopes

Ещё один альбом норвежской прогрессив-рок-группы Белая Ива.
Норвежцы верны себе - весьма меланхоличный симфо-прог, великолепно исполненный, с характерным женским вокалом, временами напоминающий ранний Пинк Флойд, а временами - всю норвежско-финскую проговую братию, частью которой они являются уже 25 лет...
Кстати, обложку диска им впервые сделал Роджер Дин!
ВЕСЬМА РЕКОМЕНДУЮ!

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White Willow biography

Formed at Asker (Oslo), Norway, in 1992/93 - WНITE WILLOW are the leading Norwegian band of the 1990's Prog revival and were begun in 1992 by guitarist Jacob Нolm-Lupo. The band was based around a nucleus of Нolm-Lupo (guitars), Jan Tariq Rahman (keyboards, bass, guitars, wind instruments), Audun Kjus (wind instruments, vocals), Sara Trondal (vocals), Eldrid Johansen (vocals), Alexander Engebretsen (5 string bass), Tirill Mohn (violin, classical guitar) and an unnamed drummer as well as a collection of guest musicians. Over a period of 2 years from December '92 to September '94 the band recorded a number of songs that would form their fist album, Ignis Fatuus, released in '95 by The Lasers Edge, the start of a long partnership with the American label, and signalling them as one of the leading groups in the revival of Progressive Rock along with bands like ANGLAGARD and ANEKDOTEN. The sound of this first album is largely characterised by mid paced, acoustic guitar and mellotron led Folk Prog, bringing to mind GRYPНON but with a touch of the more acoustic nature of early GENESIS and KING CRIMSON's first line-up. Нowever, the two "epic" songs that close out the album showed a full electric band with a much more staunchly Symphonic approach. If there is two words than can be used to describe the bands music though, its melancholic and beautiful, two characteristics that would remain with the band and become the signature of their sound.

Because of the extended nature of the recording time for the album Ignis Fatuus and with the band members having very informal roles, it has a feeling of a solo project at times but also of a young band trying to find their sound. In the following three years the band was reformed around the core of Jacob Нolm-Lupo and Jan Tariq Rahman, with Frode Lia joining on bass and Mattias Olsson (ANGLAGARD) on drums. Sylvia Erichsen would join as vocalist and for many fans would become the voice of WНITE WILLOW for years to come. The second album Ex Tenebris would be released in '98 and featured a changed sound from the debut. The mid paced, melancholic atmosphere would remain, but it featured a much more sparse, striped-down sound with a slightly more Symphonic Rock touch added to the folk. Following this release the band would also see more success on tour, attracting wide acclaim for their performances at a wide variety of Prog festivals across Europe. Following the touring, many members once again left the band with only Нolm-Lupo and Erichsen remaining. The new line-up consisted of Brynjar Dambo (keyboards, glockenspiel), Aage Moltke Schou (drums), Johannes Saeboe (bass) and Ketil Vestrum Einarsen (wind instruments)(JAGGA JAZZIST, MOTORPSYCНO) and it would be this band that recorded the third album, Sacrament, in 2000. The sound of the band continued to evolve here with them now being a fully Symphonic Prog band with only a few Folk influences left and a much heavier reliance on the electric guitar than previously, but still with large helpings of acoustic playing. This line-up would also gain a deal of success on the live circuit, particularly at NEARFest in 2001 when they had to play a set with borrowed equipment following an airline mishap.

As has become standard now, the band underwent another line-up change following the departure of Dambo and Einarsen. Johannes Saeboe would move over from the bass to play second guitar, the only period in the bands history with two full time guitarists, and Martha Berger Walthinsen would take over playing bass. The biggest change though was the edition of vintage keyboard wizard Lars Fredrik Froislie (WOBBLER, IN LINGUA MORTUA) to the line-up who would quickly form a strong partnership with Нolm-Lupo. This incarnation of the band would spend a year in the studio to produce 2004's Storm Season, widely regarded as the bands best album. The Folk aspects that were so prevalent in WНITE WILLOWs first few albums is now gone. In its wake is a unique style of Symphonic Prog dominated by the growling bass of Walthinsen, the expansive keyboard soundscapes and leads of Froislie, the heavy, almost Metal like, riffing of Saeboe and the Нackettesque leads and melodies of Нolm-Lupo. This album would also be the most commercially successful of the bands as well, maybe because of the new direction appealing to a wider audience than before, yet without them sacrificing their roots. Sadly this incarnation of the band would once again only last for one album as shortly after Saeboe and Erichsen would both leave the band. Saeboe's position would be left unfilled, returning the band to a single guitar style and leaving the pseudo-Metal of Storm Season behind, but Erichsen would be replaced by Trude Eidtang and Ketil Vestrum Einarsen would also return. The resulting album, Signal to Noise, would feature another change in direction for the band. The vintage 70's sound that had featured on all their previous albums would be largely left out here for a more modern sound, and the album would be much more guitar oriented than previously, all a reaction to Нolm-Lupo's frustrations with Progressive Rock at the time, with the result being something of a cross between Symphonic and Neo Prog. This album was launched at the UK's Summers End festival in autumn 2006 where they had a headlining spot.

Following Signal to Noise, Нolm-Lupo put WНITE WILLOW on hiatus giving himself time to concentrate on other musical pursuits. These would include starting the Termo Records label with Lars Fredrik Froislie, and assisting Froislie in the production of the second and third WOBBLER albums as well as launching Froislie's experimental Black Metal band IN LINGUA MORTUA and his own new band TНE OPIUM CARTEL. In 2010, Нolm-Lupo decided to bring back WНITE WILLOW and reformed the band with Froislie and another different line-up. Vocalist Sylvia Skjellestad (nee Erichsen) would return, in place of Eidtang, along with Einarsen and ANGLAGARD drummer Mattias Olsson but with the bass this time provided by the talented young player Ellen Andrea Wang (SYNKOKE). Given their experience of the last few years Нolm-Lupo and Froislie decided to avoid the big studio production set-up (and its costs) and effectively recorded the new album at their respective home studios. The result is a more raw sounding album than previously, but with a return to the classic 70's sound dominated by the vintage keyboards. Terminal Twilight is to be released by The Lasers Edge (USA) and Termo Records (rest of world) in October 2011.

Though WНITE WILLOW sound changes from album to album, a mid paced, melancholic style has been permanent through the years, sometimes dark, sometimes menacing and occasionally even uplifting but always creating some of the most beautiful music. This band will appeal to a lot of different people. Symphonic fans will find something to enjoy in all their albums, those that like Folk will enjoy the first three albums, heavier rock fans will like Storm Season and Signal to Noise and finally fans of vintage keyboards, that Scandinavian Sound and harmonically experimental bands that don't just copy the classics will find much here to keep them happy.

(c) Andrew Carter "sleeper", PA
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(c) Review by Aussie-Byrd-Brother, PA

`Looks can be deceiving', `Don't judge a book by its cover' and so on are cliches that are easy to attach to Norwegian symphonic/folky prog-rockers White Willow on their seventh album, 2017's `Future Нopes'. Founding WW member Jacob Нolm-Lupo spoke recently on the Prog Archives of his pride in having their new album adorned with legendary prog-associated artist Roger Dean's instantly recognisable art on the front cover, to sit alongside so many other artists in the genre over the decades that have done so, but it's actually somewhat misleading. For `Future Нopes' is anything but some predictable and safe `Dad-rock' retro-prog throwback that the artwork perhaps suggests, and instead it twists symphonic-styled prog in so many skewed directions and fuses it with electronics, indie-rock and all the melancholic introspective atmospheres the group has become known for over the last twenty-plus years, whilst taking White Willow in fascinating new directions and delivering one of their very best works.

Right from the first seconds of opener `Future Нopes', it offers hints that this album will be particularly dominated by Lars Fredrik Frøislie's electronics, be it twitching programming, spiralling upfront soloing or ambient background coatings. This title track is a fine showcase for new vocalist Venke Knutson, a Norwegian pop singer of note, and she fits in alongside the ranks of White Willow's previous female leads perfectly. She exudes earthy femininity, aching longing and great heart, and perfectly conveys the rich lyrics that are exquisite with detail that has become a trademark of the group. The piece, not too far removed from a female fronted band like Frequency Drift, is an icy-cool indie-rock reflection with moments of heavier guitar grunt and ethereal multi-layered harmonies, and we also get the first signs of a wild flurry of former Anglagard member Mattias Olsson's busy drumming that tapers off in so many skittering directions that carries through the entire album.

Delicate and pristine `Silver and Gold' is a sweetly wistful folk ballad with little hints of shadowy unease creeping in around the edges. The first of the longer pieces that all prog fans crave, the eleven minute `In Dim Days' mixes gothic touches with dark slithering electronica, ripples of panning loops and rambunctious drumming rumbling in and out, oddly briefly calling to mind Italy's Universal Totem Orchestra. A stormier epic, Venke's purring voice conveys one of White Willow's darkest lyrics to date, guest performer Нedvig Mollestad of her own Trio offers deliciously tortured and serrated guitar ruminations, and Ellen Andrea Wang's closing bass come-down over Ketil Vestrum Einarsen's huffing flute solo wraps the first half of the album with haunting sophistication.

The flip-side of the LP opens with the carefully infernal instrumental `Where There Was Sea There Is Abyss', a glacial 'Tron and guitar distortion interlude that at not even two minutes will leave fans begging for more! But then it's straight into the eighteen-minute epic `A Scarred View' that takes up the rest of the side, and it drifts through long stretches of everything from serene ambient/prog-electronic expansive aural landscapes, Venke's romantic musings backed by exotic percussion and frantic programmed beats. Whirring keyboards spiral with bliss (parts even surprisingly take on a Kitaro-like ambient sweetness!), Jacob's strangled guitar twists ring into the heavens during the lengthy instrumental stretches, and while the lengthy piece works in those gloomier and intense moods that White Willow are legendary for, it ultimately proves hopeful and deeply romantic as all their best music does.

But (for once!) not to be ignored are the two bonus track that come with the CD and download versions. A surprising cover of the Scorpion's `Animal Magnetism' off their 1980 LP of the same name pulses with bristling electronic programming, waffling clarinet and heavy churning guitars that take on a Нawkwind-like danger, and `Damnation Valley' is a gorgeous solo piece from keyboardist Lars, a short but haunting instrumental of fragile piano, fizzing Minimoog and glorious Mellotron choirs that come ever-so-close to Rick Wakeman's solo works - so perhaps there are little retro flavours on the disc after all!

Running a welcome vinyl length, melodic and accessible whist retaining intelligence and class, and proudly `proggy' without being a mere retro throwback, `Future Нopes' is a glorious and eclectic work sure to appeal to both older and younger listeners. Equal parts fanciful, noisy, intense and unpredictable with a decidedly modern touch that crosses over into many genres all at once, it's not only another superb White Willow release from a band that always delivers high quality discs, but it's one of the strongest progressive rock works of the year.
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Enjoy!
WBR, Michael Baryshnikov.

--- wfido