ERIK WØLLO

The Polar Drones

Groove Unltd. (2003)

review by Bill Binkelman

You'll have to excuse the deliberate pun, but Erik Wøllo's album, The Polar Drones, is the perfect album to "chill out" with. This is a superb collection of fifteen tracks that feature all manner of electronic music that never revs up too much nor lays down too low, and how better to describe chill-out music? Of course, I consider myself a huge fan of this Norwegian artist, appreciating all aspects of his talent, from his acoustic and electric guitar playing (such as on his release Guitar Nova) as well as his electronic keyboard skills (on releases like Transit and Emotional Landscapes). The Polar Drones finds him camped almost exclusively in the latter arena, with many songs displaying his talents on layering various synthesizers and dropping in assorted electronic and acoustic percussion to yield exquisite downtempo music that covers everything from ambient to EM to chill-out to electronica.

Opening with the eerily beautiful short ambient piece "The Barren Land Theme" (with swirling washes and twinkling synth tones and Wøllo's signature echoed piano notes), the CD's first foray into beats is on the next number, "Expedition." As the track begins, there are icicle-like shimmering textures that fade into bump-a-bump slow tempo bass beats, buoyed by mellow underlying synths and an undulating wash of keyboards. "Zima" (one of three tracks that are longer than six minutes), begins in a forbidding vein, with echoed gong-like reverberations and strange noise effects. A steady clock-ish beat emerges along with watery tones, before Wøllo starts blending in an array of ethnic percussion rhythms amid whirly-gigging electronics. He then folds in more lush undercurrents of synthesizers that pulse with life beneath the now snappy more electronica-like beats. He wraps it all up with delicate guitar work laced throughout all the beats and tones.

Some of the songs on The Polar Drones are musically evocative of a frozen wasteland, yet one that is filled with majesty and beauty. One such track is the short title piece (one of two selections titled "The Polar Drones," this one being "The Polar Drones 1"). Layers of keyboards and synths float along effortlessly with an air of icy beauty and one can almost picture an expanse of blue-white glaciers stretching out to the horizon. Then there are completely different songs, such as the next one, "Soft Machine" a track that marries minor key synths with a rapid chugging beat and underlying bass notes, having an almost railroad-like cadence to them. The undercurrent of gentle warm drones provides a soothing backdrop to the percolating rhythms. Another overt electronic piece is the aptly-titled "Pulsar" which, of course, has a decidedly spacemusic-ish feel to it and features assorted electronic beats and swooshing retro-ish keyboards. "Map of the Mind" follows, and here the emphasis is on muted electronic textures and a Patrick O'Hearn-like mournful bass lead line.

Two of the last four songs are seven-plus minutes in length, "The Return of the Sun," and "Glacier Blue." "The Return of the Sun" begins in a neo-Germanic vein, all aglow with sequenced synth notes and gentle whistling tones, before coming alive with more dramatic rhythms and the emergence of electric guitar, bass beats, and Wøllo's recognizable echoed piano. As the track builds up steam, the artist adds yet more textures and elements to the song, yet it never really gets too "hot" because this, after all, The POLAR Drones! The album ends with a perfect closing track, the softly beautiful synthesizer song, "Farewell," which concludes the CD on a haunting reflective note, filled with a touch of regret.

Of interest is that Wøllo composed the first seven tracks as a promotional CD for a company and some of the other songs were used as soundtrack selections for a TV documentary on polar expeditions and also as background music for the 2002 Winter Olympics. Whoever selected these pieces as musical accompaniment to those events should be commended on his/her taste, because The Polar Drones is visually evocative music of the highest degree. While you could play this in the background and enjoy it just fine that way, I think that you, like me, would consistently find your attention being grabbed by the plaintive melodies and catchy rhythms. Before you know it, you'd be dreaming of ice fields, towering snow-capped mountains and night skies aglow with the humbling beauty of the aurora borealis. The Polar Drones earns my highest recommendation and further solidifies my belief that Erik Wøllo is one of the more innovative and under-rated artists in the EM genre.