Artist: Erik Wollo and Byron Metcalf
Album: Earth Luminous

Label: Projekt
Released: 13 May 2016

Earth Luminous Byron Metcalf & Erik Wollo
The debut collaboration between guitarist Erik Wøllo and percussionist Byron Metcalf has brought together two musicians who celebrate the planet through sound. While each of these two has produced their own fair share of heated body music, for Earth Luminous (63'17") (their first studio collaboration) they explore the more mellow areas of the chilled mind. Here Metcalf brings the energy while Wøllo adds the motion. As one might imagine this exciting collaboration to yield new, even deeper journeys than either man could make on his own - upon listening we do find this duo working together quite harmoniously, and at a very high level of proficiency. The eight tracks on Earth Luminous, each of a unique color and energy level, gradually wind up and then out - into the blue of the sky, then down to the earthen hues of the solid ground. As intrigues of percussive patterning advance beneath a contrast of textures and atmospheres - the resulting realizations invigorate the body while stimulating the mind. With Wøllo's cerebral synthetic guitar chords expanding across the firmament, Metcalf's drummed patterns, grooves, rhythms and beats produce velocity over a dramatic landscape. The experience appears to have brought the musicians into a special creative zone of their own. A perfect place, where random gestures result in significant musical moments, and extend into the everlasting reaches of evermore. The modern digital society de-emphasizes the natural world, which seems to diminish our humanity. Earth Luminous reminds us to celebrate our connection to our Earth, and to discover something more of it - lest these remarkable, human feelings remain lost inside, forgotten and unattended to.

- Chuck van Zyl/STAR'S END   2 June 2016


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