WHITE WILLOW |
| White Willow
are : Jacob C. Holm-Lupo on Acoustic and Electric Guitars, Organ on 'A Strange Procession' Jan Tarig Rahman on Piano, Mellotron, organ, Synthesizers, Theremin, Vocals Sylvia Erichsen on Vocals Frode Lia on Bass Guitar Mattias C. Olsson on Drums, Percussion Special Guests Teresa K. Aslanian - Spoken Words on 'Helen & Simon Magus' Asa Ecklund - Vocals on 'Thirteen Days' Audun Kjus - Flute on 'The Book Of Love' and 'Helen & Simon Magus' The tracks are : 1. Leaving The House Of Thanatos 2. The Book Of Love 3. Soteriology 4. Helen And Simon Magus 5. Thirteen Days 6. A Strange Procession... 7. ...A Dance Of Shadows White Willow was formed in 1992, when the psychedelic folk-rock group The Orchid Garden recorded their first demos. The Laser's Edge offered the most tempting contract, and thus, preparations began for the recording of "Ignis Fatuus". As the band's music veered more and more towards the symphonic, a decision was made to change the band's name to White Willow. The line-up at this time was: Jacob C. Holm-Lupo - guitars, Jan Tariq Rahman - keyboards, recorders, vocals, Sara Trondal/Eldrid Johansen - vocals, Audun Kjus - flutes, whistles, vocals, Tirill Mohn - violin, Alexander Engebretsen - bass guitar and an assortment of drummers, as we never could find the right one. "Ignis Fatuus" was released in March 1995. White Willow's latest album is "Ex Tenebris" (out of darkness) is a concept album dealing with gnosticism and such... The opening track is 'Leaving The House Of Thanatos', a beautiful track with acoustic guitar and atmospheric keyboards followed by some subtle bass lines. Great vocals from Jan, who puts a lot of emotion into this track. Later the bass becomes more pronounced, and when the chorus comes in, it is, very catchy. In a way this reminds me a little of The Alan Parsons Project. At times the drums/percussion is minimalist, but it works quite well, great keyboard solo. The next track is 'The Book Of Love', a beautiful love song with lovely vocals from Jan and Sylvia. Theres some nice flute, played with an Irish feeling to it and some very subtle keyboards being played in the background. The third track 'Soteriology', starts with an acoustic guitar being played, this has a classical/medieval feeling to it. Then a piano is added, then a church organ, this has brought about a change in feeling within the track which has now become rather like a hymn. Lovely vocals from Sylvia who also sings it like a hymn too. The next track 'Helen And Simon Magus', starts with some nice piano, lovely vocals from Sylvia. Theres some nice keyboards which has a Scottish feeling to them, the drums are being played with a marching rhythm as though the bagpipes are being played. Then some superb guitar comes in, carrying on the same theme, then the track reverts back to piano and keyboards. Later a heavier sounding guitar comes in and then back to the vocals. This is followed by some spoken words from Teresa. 'Thirteen Days', starts with acoustic guitar, nice vocals from special guest Asa Ecklund. Later theres some multi-layered acoustic guitars and nice keyboards, which are more in the style of King Crimson. Theres also some nice subtle flute. The sixth track 'A Strange Procession...', this sounds like a procession, beating drums, sombre keys and a feeling of sadness...a funeral procession. The next track '... A Dance Of Shadows', this track starts with some nice piano, an acoustic guitar, then drums, percussion and synth sounds are introduced. Finally the guitar comes in, theres a slight classical influence, but the music is still quite dark. Then theres a change in direction and some wonderful vocals from Sylvia emerge. This is another track where some of the instruments seem to be used in a minimalistic way, but works very well. There are hints of King Crimson and Van Der Graaf Generator influences here and there within this track. Later into the track, it becomes more atmospheric with just synth sounds and percussion, then theres some superb guitar. This is followed by some spacey synth sounds in the background, while theres more guitar and then the vocals return. Ex Tenebris is a beautiful, dark, memorable piece of work. You only have to play this a few times and lots of it will keep floating about in your memory banks. Highly Recommended!!! Released by The Laser's Edge.P.O.box 388, Voorhees, NJ 08043-0388 Fax : 609-751-7466 http://www.jersey.net/~lasercd email : lasercd@aol.com Contact White Willow c/o Jacob C. Holm-Lupo Website : http://home.sol.no/~noetic/Jacob/WEIRDG.HTM Email : jacob@online.no |