“Crystal Bells shells its 20 minutes in four structures always so contemplative which interlace in some fragrances of mystery”
Crystal Bells 1 6:26
Crystal Bells 2 3:29
Crystal Bells 3 6:37
Crystal Bells 4 3:39
(DDL 20:11) (V.F.)
(Progressive esoteric EM)
Ah..! The joys and delights of Internet and of its download platforms; a tool which is going to fulfill the gluttonous appetite of the fans. And Erik Wollo has his fans' legion. And the latter will be delighted to hear this 2nd mini album that the Norwegian synthesist/guitarist is sliding in the clouds of the WWW by the means of Projekt Records. Surfing a little on the ambiospherical rhythms and melodies of The Nocturnes, CRYSTAL BELLS shells its 20 minutes in four structures always so contemplative which interlace in some fragrances of mystery where the poetry of Wollo floats as shadows of tenderness.
Crystal Bells 1 is a small jewel of ambient rhythm. The onset is done by a synth which frees lines of solitude of which the musical light beams get through some crystal bells ringing within winds swollen by emotions. The melodious approach perspires the one that we find on The Nocturnes with chords finely hammered on a shagreen. Soft manual percussions rock this delicate rhythm which, strangely, feeds on a symbiosis of instruments without rhythm while the solos of guitar are flooding this ode to solitude from which the rhythm increases finely, faithful to the passion which devours it. After the ambient winds and the absent voices of Crystal Bells 2, Crystal Bells 3 awakes to life with this fusion of bells which ring such as ballets of prism. These silvered reflections dance beneath slow and sinuous layers of synth/guitar which float like a melody singing between two spaces. Then an acoustic guitar comes to feed the rhythm of its subdivided presence. And it's a nice fusion of guitars which is melt in the shady harmony of Crystal Bells 3. Under a sky darkened by absent voices and gloomy synth layers, the lines of electric guitars cry of heart-rending tones on a harmonious union of two acoustic guitars which are in confrontation in a duel rhythm and melody. It's meditative (layers of floating guitars) and slightly lively (chords of acoustic guitar) and it depicts all the oneiric environment of CRYSTAL BELLS which dips back into a black ambient passage with Crystal Bells 4. A short final fed by the hybrid breaths of guitars and synths which weave an ambiospherical abyss where the boreal poetry of Erik Wollo remains in an ambience of blackness immensely Scandinavian.
Sylvain Lupari (June 9h, 2013) *****
Available at Projekt Records Bandcamp