April 25-May 1, 2002

musicpicks

Erik Wollo

Rock/Pop

The electric guitar solo is a maligned moment, usually overwrought with its manipulator's ego and technical prowess. And the faces made in the name of string bending? Oy. You won't find such heroics in the icy but elatedly filmic élan of Erik Wollo. A Norwegian composer whose work (including a recent text of mordant photos and phrases, Fossegrimen) is as regarded for its moody minimalist classicism over there as Glass or Reich here, Wollo is electro-guitar's subtlest friend. Atop windswept cold desert soundscapes of orchestral synthesizer and sequenced lines (on CDs like Silver Beach and Traces), he six-strings elegantly and elegiacly. Sure, there's a hint of prog-rock in his work on occasion. There is, too, a precious rhythmic angling in his song structures, as he's composed many a Norway-ballet. Wollo's subdued atmospheric presence is best witnessed on a new acoustic guitar epic Guitar Nova, where he replicates the evocation of guitar-synths with terrorizing multi-tracked tones and plush live strings.

The Gathering presents Erik Wollo, Sat., April 27, 7 p.m., $10-$20, St. Mary’s Hamilton Village, 3916 Locust Walk, 800-965-4827, www.thegatherings.org.

—A.D. Amorosi

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