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 Hemsedal, Norway. In the era when he grew up in Norway, the local folk music is very much dominated by the Hardanger fiddle, and 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 three download live albums "Silent Currents 3", "Star’s End 2015", and "Winter Tide" - Live at Soundquest Fest 2021. 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 50 solo albums and several smaller format EP's, all distributed globally and he has gained a large audience for his music.
He has received the Schallwelle Award in Germany for "Revolve", for best Ambient album in 2023.

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.. Wøllo is also a visual artist and have created several album covers, including some of his own releases.

Personal

Erik Wøllo currently lives on Hvaler, an island in the south of Norway. He is married, and has one son.

Selection of works/discography

Solo albums:

1983 - "WHERE IT ALL BEGINS"
1984 - "DREAMS OF PYRAMIDS"
1985 - "TRACES"
1986 - "SILVER BEACH"
1990 - "IMAGES OF LIGHT"
1992 - "SOLSTICE"
1996 - "TRANSIT"
1998 - "GUITAR NOVA"
2001 - "WIND JOURNEY"
2003 - "EMOTIONAL LANDSCAPES"
2003 - "THE POLAR DRONES"
2004 - "BLUE SKY, RED GUITARS"
2007 - "ELEVATIONS"
2010 - "GATEWAY" 2025 remaster
2011 - "SILENT CURRENTS"
2012 - "AIRBORNE"
2013 - "SILENT CURRENTS 3"
2014 - "TIMELINES"
2015 - "BLUE RADIANCE"
2016 - "STAR'S END 2015 "
2017 - "DIFFERENT SPACES"
2017 - "CINEMATIC"
2018 - "THRESHOLD POINT"
2019 - "INFINITE MOMENTS"
2019 - "SOURCES"
2021 - "RECURRENCE"
2021 - "NORTH STAR"
2021 - "WINTER TIDE" Live at Soundquest Fest 2021
2022 - "SOJOURNS"
2023 - "THE SHAPE OF TIME"
2023 - "CLOUD OF STRINGS"
2024 - "CROSSING THE EQUATOR"
2024 - "SOLASTALGIA"
2025 - "WHERE THE RIVER WIDENS"

EP / Mini albums:

2004 - "ITUNES EXCLUSIVES"
2012 - "THE NOCTURNES"
2012 - "CRYSTAL BELLS"
2013 - "CELESTIA"
2014 - "TUNDRA"
2015 - "ECHOTIDES"
2022 - "INVERSIONS"
2023 - "THE LE PAYSAGE SINGLE"
2025 - "AERIS Suite"

Together with other artists/projects:

1984 - Wiese/Wøllo/Waring - "Trio"
1984 - Celeste - "Design by Music"
1992 - New Music Composers Group - "In Real Time"
1995 - Bry/Springgard/Wøllo - "Fossegrimen"
1996 - Pacemaker - "Pacemaker EP"
1997 - EXILE - "Dimension D"
2001 - Erik Wøllo/Hyperlinkto - "Musikk til en Meny"
2009 - Steve Roach/Erik Wøllo - "Stream of Thought"
2009 - Frank Van Bogaert with Erik Wøllo - "Air Machine"
2009 - Deborah Martin/Erik Wøllo - "Between Worlds"
2009 - Erik Wøllo/Bernhard Wöstheinrich - "Arcadia Borealis"
2010 - Kouame Sereba with Erik Wøllo - "Bako"
2011 - Steve Roach/Erik Wøllo - "The Road Eternal"
2012 - Ian Boddy/Erik Wøllo - "Frontiers"
2014 - Ian Boddy/Erik Wøllo - "EC-12"
2014 - Erik Wøllo/Bernhard Wöstheinrich - "Weltenuhr"
2016 - Erik Wøllo/Byron Metcalf - "Earth Luminous"
2016 - Byron Metcalf - "Inner Rhythm Meditations" I
2018 - Ian Boddy/Erik Wøllo - "Meridian"
2018 - Byron Metcalf - "Inner Rhythm Meditations" II
2020 - Erik Wøllo/Michael Stearns - "Convergence"
2021 - Byron Metcalf - "Rhythms of Remembering"
2022 - Ian Boddy/Erik Wøllo - "Revolve"
2023 - Alan Elettronico - “Electric Dream ” -
2024 - Deborah Martin/Erik Wøllo - "Kinishba"
2025 - Ian Boddy/Erik Wøllo - "Transmissions"

Several selected compositions licensed for Collection Albums :

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
2021 - "Gemstones" II -

Library music:

2012 - Tracks on 13 collection albums
2013 - "Electronic Landscapes"
2013 - "Ambisonics 2"
2013 - "Ambisonics 1"
2015 - "Science, Tech and Design"
2017 - "Ambient Landscapes"
2017 - "Ambient Landscapes"
2020 - "Sonic Soundscapes"
2021 - "Future Landscapes"

Other works for different ensembles:

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"

Music for ballet:

1986 - "Pyramider"
1992 - "Jeg Drømte"
1999 - "Gips"-
1999 - "Ursula X"
2001 - "Shadowgraph"
2002 - "Cascade"
2004 - "Distant Buddha"
2004 - "Fragile"
2007 - "Breathing Space"

Music for theatre/multi-media:

1991 - "Motspillerne"
1992 - "Aldri Verden"
1996 - "Abiriels Løve"
1996 - "Fossegrimen"
2005 - "Livskraften"
2007 - "Heimen Vår"

Video/film/exhibitions:

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

Diverse:

Films / TV - documentaries: NRK/TV2 and others. Also diverse Film/Documentaries for TV and Radio in Europe, Japan and US.
Several Multimedia / Exhibitions
"Off The Wall" - World music concert project for schools, produced by Rikskonsertene 2005.