Erik Wøllo
Erik Wøllo is a Norwegian composer and musician, guitarist and synthesist. He has a background in various genres in music. As a solo recording artist, he is most known for his electronic and ambient musical soundscapes. Music that can be classified in the genres of space, drone, new age, and electronic music. Through his many albums he has gained recognition for his unique sound and style. Using guitar as the primary instrument in a highly imaginary and emotional music, building a bridge between grand symphonic realms and gentle, minimalistic and serene atmospheres.
History and Overview
Born and raised in Norway, in the era when he grew up in Norway, the local folk music is very much dominated by the Hardanger fiddle, his grandfather once offered him a fiddle as a birthday present, if he wanted to start playing, but he went for the guitar, and started to play at age 11.His first influence was the evolving heavy/progressive rock music in the seventies, although he once said his first guitar hero was John Fogerty! He soon discovered the more complicated and intricate styles of rock, like Pink Floyd, Yes and Emerson Lake and Palmer. Which led him gradually into more contemporary electronic music genres.
He started his professional career in 1980, playing and touring around Norway in various jazz/rock and fusion bands. But in 1984, he decided to concentrate full-time on his own solo career, building his own studio Wintergarden, where he started to explore and create his new soundworld.
His third album "Traces", was a turning point in his creative musical approach, and pointed out his unique style in instrumental music. This album represented an important and seminal time for Wøllo's artistic development.
Erik says in a private interview: “I quit all the bands I played in, I wanted to work on my own using the modern electronic studio as an instrument. Like a painter with his oil canvasses. I wanted to make a music that had expansive synthesizer textures and sequencer patterns, layered together with expressive melodic electric guitars. Working with depth, time and space. In those years in the early eighties the studio technology was new and revolutionary, and I wanted to explore all the new possibilities. To be able to control the infinite variations of electronic sound, using an endless palette for creative expression. Musically this technology opened up a new possible world for me, and I have continued to further develop and refine these musical ideas on later recordings. Also for the last decades, I have been able to bring this my musical concept to the stage, performing live. I have been doing several tours, as well as releasing a double CD set live album "Silent Currents". As well as two download live albums "Silent Currents 3", and "Star’s End 2015". I have also done several live concerts with Ian Boddy and Steve Roach. In August 2019, I performed a main act concert with special written music for an outdoor festival in Norway, featuring Trey Gunn, Kouame Sereba and Jerry Marotta."
Erik has also written music for diverse acoustic ensembles, such as string quartets, wind quintets and sinfoniettas. As one of very few Norwegian composers, these scores were all written in the classical minimalistic tradition.
He has released more than 30 full-length solo albums and several smaller format EP's, all distributed globally and he has gained a large audience for his music.
Collaborations
Erik Wøllo has also collaborated and released album works together with some of the most respected artists in the ambient music world: with Steve Roach, Michael Stearns, Ian Boddy, Byron Metcalf, Bernhard Wöstheinrich, and several others.One of the areas Wøllo has been deeply exploring for many decades, is the connections between the various art forms. Focusing on finding mutual and parallel aspects, he has been making music for use together with other media, like film, modern ballet and theater. Also together with diverse experimental visual art forms for gallery exhibitions..
Personal
Erik Wøllo currently lives on Hvaler, an island in the south of Norway. He is married, and has one son.Gallery
Wøllo with Fender Stratocaster at Schallwelle 2012.Selection of Works/Discography
Solo albums:- 2019 - "SOURCES"
- 2019 - "INFINITE MOMENTS"
- 2018 - "THRESHOLD POINT"
- 2017 - "CINEMATIC"
- 2017 - "DIFFERENT SPACES"
- 2016 - "STAR'S END 2015 "
- 2015 - "BLUE RADIANCE"
- 2014 - "TIMELINES"
- 2013 - "SILENT CURRENTS 3"
- 2012 - "AIRBORNE"
- 2011 - "SILENT CURRENTS"
- 2010 - "GATEWAY"
- 2007 - "ELEVATIONS"
- 2004 - "BLUE SKY, RED GUITARS"
- 2003 - "THE POLAR DRONES"
- 2003 - "EMOTIONAL LANDSCAPES"
- 2001 - "WIND JOURNEY"
- 1998 - "GUITAR NOVA"
- 1996 - "TRANSIT"
- 1992 - "SOLSTICE"
- 1990 - "IMAGES OF LIGHT"
- 1986 - "SILVER BEACH" Digital Download
- 1985 - "TRACES"
- 1984 - "DREAMS OF PYRAMIDS"
- 1983 - "WHERE IT ALL BEGINS"
- 2015 - "ECHOTIDES"
- 2014 - "TUNDRA"
- 2013 - "CELESTIA"
- 2012 - "CRYSTAL BELLS"
- 2012 - "THE NOCTURNES"
- 2004 - "ITUNES EXCLUSIVES"
- 2020 - Erik Wøllo/Michael Stearns - "Convergence"
- 2018 - Ian Boddy/Erik Wøllo - "Meridian"
- 2016 - Erik Wøllo/Byron Metcalf - "Earth Luminous"
- 2014 - Erik Wøllo/Bernhard Wöstheinrich - "Weltenuhr"
- 2014 - Ian Boddy/Erik Wøllo - "EC-12"
- 2012 - Ian Boddy/Erik Wøllo - "Frontiers"
- 2011 - Steve Roach/Erik Wøllo - "The Road Eternal"
- 2010 - Kouame Sereba with Erik Wøllo - "Bako"
- 2009 - Erik Wøllo/Bernhard Wöstheinrich - "Arcadia Borealis"
- 2009 - Deborah Martin/Erik Wøllo - "Between Worlds"
- 2009 - Frank Van Bogaert with Erik Wøllo - "Air Machine"
- 2009 - Steve Roach/Erik Wøllo - "Stream of Thought"
- 2001 - Erik Wøllo/Hyperlinkto - "Musikk til en Meny"
- 1997 - EXILE - "Dimension D"
- 1996 - Pacemaker - "Pacemaker EP"
- 1995 - Bry/Springgard/Wøllo - "Fossegrimen"
- 1992 - New Music Composers Group - "In Real Time"
- 1984 - Celeste - "Design by Music"
- 1984 - Wiese/Wøllo/Waring - "Trio"
- 1999 - "Northern Nights" -
- 2000 - "Music from the Edge" -
- 2001 - "The Echoes Living Room Concerts, vol. 7" -
- 2002 - "Lights Out VIII" -
- 2003 - "The Echoes Living Room Concerts, vol. 9" -
- 2004 - "Michael Garrison Tribute Collection" -
- 2005 - "Lights Out IX" -
- 2006 - "Lights Out X" -
- 2007 - "Stars End 30th Anniversary Anthology CD"
- 2009 - "The Projekt Sampler 2009" -
- 2010 - "Afar" -
- 2011 - "E-Day 2011" -
- 2011 - "The Rope 25" -
- 2011 - "The Echoes Living Room Concerts, Vol. 17"
- 2011 - "PAWS, no - kill animal shelter benefit" CD Compilation
- 2012 - "DiN40 - Various - iNDEX04" - DiN Records Sampler -
- 2013 - "Possibilities of Circumstance" - Various Artists
- 2014 - "Winter 2014" - Various Artists
- 2016 - "VISIONS" - A Collection of Music by Erik Wøllo
- 2017 - "Ambient Landscapes"
- 2015 - "Science, Tech and Design"
- 2013 - "Ambisonics 1"
- 2013 - "Ambisonics 2"
- 1982 - "Formations"
- 1986 - "En Brottsjø"
- 1986 - "Solar"
- 1988 - "Windows"
- 1990 - "Pre Sense"
- 1992 - "Vidder"
- 1992 - "Accordance"
- 1994 - "Lost in Legoland"
- 1997 - "Magnushymnen"
- 1998 - "Ceramics"
- 1998 - "Imaginations"
- 1999 - "Millennium 2000"
- 2000 - "Transitions"
- 2002 - "Unity"
- 2011 - "Snowflakes"
- 2013 - "Elementa Ultra"
- 2015 - "Fragmenter fra en Aftenstemning"
- 2016 - "Cluster"
- 2007 - "Breathing Space"
- 2004 - "Fragile"
- 2004 - "Distant Buddha"
- 2002 - "Cascade"
- 2001 - "Shadowgraph"
- 1999 - "Ursula X"
- 1999 - "Gips"-
- 1992 - "Jeg Drømte"
- 1986 - "Pyramider"
- 2007 - "Heimen Vår"
- 2005 - "Livskraften"
- 1996 - "Fossegrimen"
- 1996 - "Abiriels Løve"
- 1992 - "Aldri Verden"
- 1991 - "Motspillerne"
- 1996 - "Transit" - music video to the album.
- 1998 - "Rift" -Video from Iceland.
- 1997 - "Antebellum America" -Video/Installation
- 1998 - "Lay Out" -Video/Installation
- 1999 - "Street Lights" -Video/Installation
- 1999 - "Fun House" -Video/Installation
- 2000 - "Crash Course" -Video/Installation
- 2002 - "Sprawlville" -Video/Installation
- 2003 - "Consuming Pleasures" -Video/Installation
- 2003 - "Falling Down" -Video/Installation
- 2005 - "Balling Games" -Video/Installation
- 2006 - "Playing Games Paying Games" -Video/Installation
- 2007 - "Lille Øistein" -computer game
- 2000 - "Ice Works", music to Ice sculpture
- 2000 - "Kulturstreif Hallingdal", -Internet project
- 2000 - "En Transformert Reise", video
- 2001 - "Chat Chat Chat", Animations/Internet interactive
- 2003 - "Under Overflaten", video
- 2005 - "Beacons", Light/Sound installation at Asker Railway station
- 2005 - "Elevator", Photo and Sound Installation
- 2005 - "Year", Dramatic Feature Film
- 2006 - "Eventyrsøppel" - Installation with Music
- 2011 - "Spectra Emotions", Video and Sound Installation
- 2012 - "Running High" -Video/Installation
- Films / TV - documentaries: NRK/TV2 and others. Also diverse Film/Documentaries for TV and Radio in Europe, Japan and USA.
- Several Multimedia / Exhibitions
- "Off The Wall" - World music concert project for schools, produced by Rikskonsertene 2005.