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Along with Ian Boddy, Vic Hennegan, Jeff Pearce, Robert Rich, Steve Roach, Kit Watkins and other innovative musicians, Erik Wøllo uses his time playing live on STAR'S END Ambient Radio as a creative safe haven - a place where he can stretch out, try new things and invent and explore new space. However, to categorize Silent Currents 3 (57'51") as a recording of a radio performance would understate his achievement. Wøllo's third STAR'S END concert transpired on the broadcast of 10.17.10. Ideas seldom rest, and over the course of the next few years Wøllo re-worked the material from his on-air zone into the Silent Currents 3 release. His previous two transmitted concerts were put out as the double CD Silent Currents (2011), and portray a decidedly Ambient low-key and wandering atmosphere. This third volume offers more than familiarity. Beginning in a dislocated icy quiet Wøllo translates electronic currents, musical notes and sonic textures into three dimensions. Dense servings of roiling drones evaporate as consonant, breathy tones announce a sparkling transition. Loping percussion loops advance in long easy strides beneath ethereal e-bow guitar leads. Deep into dark fibers of sound this album moves assuredly between sonic stories and states of energy. From spacey thought-tones out of windswept alien landscapes to buoyant rhythms and breezy melodies of a moonlit north, this album offers diverse meaning. Seductive charm melts under sudden gravity, evanescent lineaments darken into grainy beds of sound, as what is familiar seems transcended. Silent Currents 3 is finely structured. Everything advances so perfectly that listeners will be surprised to hear where they have ended up - amidst the elemental forces of night, space and the radio waves that emanate through both.
- Chuck van Zyl/STAR'S END 12 March 2015 |
