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On the 10.11.15 broadcast of STAR'S END Erik Wøllo renewed his membership among the exclusive aural explorers of infinity. As the deep of night moved across Philadelphia, Wøllo performed his fourth live to air radio set. Silent Currents 4 (60'13") is the album of his quiet concert for those listening in repose. During these late-night sonic excursions, time, for the musician, seems longer and wider. Each vignette builds slowly, performed with perfect assurance, flowing beautifully across this hour-long realization. While themes emerge out of an alien soundscape, a soft breeze of synth strings gives shape to the listener's mental imagery. Wøllo's keyboard and guitar fantasy rises and falls in gentle arcs - which establishes an interesting compositional contour. Although quite atmospheric its lushly appointed details, nebulous melodies and shifting harmonies provide Silent Currents 4 with enough emotionally resonant content so as to engage a sleeping listener, or benefit one who is asleep. Metal strings bend, breath and bloom in cavernous reverberation. Rushing currents give way to careful manipulation of textures. Vibrant electronic chords move from the deep-toned to the light and radiant - accompanied all the while by a vague stratum of modulated effects or metamorphosing samples. As we near the end of our drift, the energy level increases. A soft, cycling pulse enters our listening space - which adds a point of punctuation to the wireless dream of Silent Currents 4. Erik Wøllo makes these onward contributions to the airwaves because he understands the value of these performances - for the audience and for himself. This liminal zone can reveal to us the workings and relations of the conscious and the unconscious mind. How unique, for such a broad range of humanity to simultaneously meet in such a realm. A musician in constant progress, an artist always being perfected, Erik Wøllo maintains a warm heartbeat, beneath all the digital flash.
- Chuck van Zyl/STAR'S END 21 April 2016 |
