White Willow (band)
Encyclopedia
White Willow is a Norwegian
art rock
band, mixing elements of orchestra
l pop
, 70's progressive rock
, jazz-rock
and even electronic
elements. They have released 5 albums so far: 1995's Ignis Fatuus, which features symphonic folk rock in the vein of early King Crimson
and Genesis
as well as Mellow Candle
; 1998's Ex Tenebris, which is minimalist prog/post-rock; 2000's Sacrament, a full-blown symphonic rock/pop release; 2004's Storm Season, the band's best-selling record to date, mixing darker, more guitar
-heavy elements into their sound, and their fifth studio album, Signal to Noise, which was released in August 2006. According to their website (as of July 2011), their new album Terminal Twilight is set to be released on October 17th 2011.
White Willow's influences range from 10cc
, The Beach Boys
, Big Star and Steely Dan
to King Crimson
, Magma
, Weather Report
and even Nick Drake
and Joni Mitchell
. They have been hailed by The Billboard Guide to Progressive Music as "one of the most significant progressive groups of the current era". Typical of their sound is the prominence of female vocals, flute
and mellotron
s and analog synthesizer
s.
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
art rock
Art rock
Art rock is a subgenre of rock music that originated in the United Kingdom in the 1960s, with influences from art, avant-garde, and classical music. The first usage of the term, according to Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, was in 1968. Influenced by the work of The Beatles, most notably their Sgt...
band, mixing elements of orchestra
Orchestra
An orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...
l pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
, 70's progressive rock
Progressive rock
Progressive rock is a subgenre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of a "mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility." John Covach, in Contemporary Music Review, says that many thought it would not just "succeed the pop of...
, jazz-rock
Jazz fusion
Jazz fusion is a musical fusion genre that developed from mixing funk and R&B rhythms and the amplification and electronic effects of rock, complex time signatures derived from non-Western music and extended, typically instrumental compositions with a jazz approach to lengthy group improvisations,...
and even electronic
Electronic music
Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...
elements. They have released 5 albums so far: 1995's Ignis Fatuus, which features symphonic folk rock in the vein of early King Crimson
King Crimson
King Crimson are a rock band founded in London, England in 1969. Often categorised as a foundational progressive rock group, the band have incorporated diverse influences and instrumentation during their history...
and Genesis
Genesis (band)
Genesis are an English rock band that formed in 1967. The band currently comprises the longest-tenured members Tony Banks , Mike Rutherford and Phil Collins . Past members Peter Gabriel , Steve Hackett and Anthony Phillips , also played major roles in the band in its early years...
as well as Mellow Candle
Mellow Candle
Mellow Candle were a progressive folk rock band. Principally Irish, the members were also unusually young, Clodagh Simonds being only 15 and Alison Bools and Maria White 16, and still at school, at the time of their first single, "Feelin' High", released in 1968 on Simon Napier-Bell's SNB...
; 1998's Ex Tenebris, which is minimalist prog/post-rock; 2000's Sacrament, a full-blown symphonic rock/pop release; 2004's Storm Season, the band's best-selling record to date, mixing darker, more guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
-heavy elements into their sound, and their fifth studio album, Signal to Noise, which was released in August 2006. According to their website (as of July 2011), their new album Terminal Twilight is set to be released on October 17th 2011.
White Willow's influences range from 10cc
10cc
10cc are an English art rock band who achieved their greatest commercial success in the 1970s. The band initially consisted of four musicians -- Graham Gouldman, Eric Stewart, Kevin Godley, and Lol Creme -- who had written and recorded together for some three years, before assuming the "10cc" name...
, The Beach Boys
The Beach Boys
The Beach Boys are an American rock band, formed in 1961 in Hawthorne, California. The group was initially composed of brothers Brian, Dennis and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and friend Al Jardine. Managed by the Wilsons' father Murry, The Beach Boys signed to Capitol Records in 1962...
, Big Star and Steely Dan
Steely Dan
Steely Dan is an American rock band; its core members are Donald Fagen and Walter Becker. The band's popularity peaked in the late 1970s, with the release of seven albums blending elements of jazz, rock, funk, R&B, and pop...
to King Crimson
King Crimson
King Crimson are a rock band founded in London, England in 1969. Often categorised as a foundational progressive rock group, the band have incorporated diverse influences and instrumentation during their history...
, Magma
Magma (band)
Magma is a French progressive rock band founded in Paris in 1969 by classically trained drummer Christian Vander, who claimed as his inspiration a "vision of humanity's spiritual and ecological future" that profoundly disturbed him. In the course of their first album, the band tells the story of a...
, Weather Report
Weather Report
Weather Report was an American jazz-rock band of the 1970s and early 1980s. The band was co-led by the Austrian-born keyboard player Joe Zawinul and the American saxophonist Wayne Shorter...
and even Nick Drake
Nick Drake
Nicholas Rodney "Nick" Drake was an English singer-songwriter and musician. Though he is best known for his sombre guitar based songs, Drake was also proficient at piano, clarinet and saxophone...
and Joni Mitchell
Joni Mitchell
Joni Mitchell, CC is a Canadian musician, singer songwriter, and painter. Mitchell began singing in small nightclubs in her native Saskatchewan and Western Canada and then busking in the streets and dives of Toronto...
. They have been hailed by The Billboard Guide to Progressive Music as "one of the most significant progressive groups of the current era". Typical of their sound is the prominence of female vocals, flute
Flute
The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...
and mellotron
Mellotron
The Mellotron is an electro-mechanical, polyphonic tape replay keyboard originally developed and built in Birmingham, England in the early 1960s. It superseded the Chamberlin Music Master, which was the world's first sample-playback keyboard intended for music...
s and analog synthesizer
Synthesizer
A synthesizer is an electronic instrument capable of producing sounds by generating electrical signals of different frequencies. These electrical signals are played through a loudspeaker or set of headphones...
s.
Current band members
- Sylvia Erichsen - vocals
- Lars Fredrik FrøislieLars Fredrik FrøislieLars Fredrik Frøislie is a Norwegian musician. His main instruments are keyboards and drums. He has also done some producing and runs Termo Records together with Jacob Holm-Lupo...
- keyboards - Ketil Vestrum Einarsen - flute
- Jacob Holm-LupoJacob Holm-LupoJacob Holm-Lupo is a Norwegian guitarist, composer and producer. He is the main song-writer in White Willow and the Opium Cartel. He also runs Termo Records together with Lars Fredrik Frøislie.-References:...
- guitar (founding member) - Ellen Andrea Wang - bass
- Mattias Olsson - drums
Former band members
- Trude Eidtang - vocals
- Marthe Berger Walthinsen - bass
- Aage Moltke Schou - drums
- Erik Holm - drums
- Danny Young - drums
- Alexander Engebretsen - bass
- Per Christian Stenberg - bass
- Eldrid Johansen - vocals
- Sara Trondal - vocals
- Tirill Mohn - violin
- Audun Kjus - flute and vocals
- Jan Tariq Rahman - keyboards, bass, woodwinds and vocals (founding member)
Discography
- Ignis Fatuus (1995, The Laser's Edge)
- Ex Tenebris (1998, The Laser's Edge)
- Sacrament (2000, The Laser's Edge)
- Storm SeasonStorm SeasonStorm Season is the fourth studio album by the Norwegian progressive rock band White Willow. It is the last album to feature Sylvia Erichsen on vocals.-Track listing:All songs have been composed by Jacob Holm-Lupo except where noted....
(2004, The Laser's Edge; Japanese version released through Avalon/Marquee) - Signal to Noise (2006, The Laser's Edge)
- Terminal Twilight (2011, Termo RecordsTermo RecordsTermo Records is a Norwegian record label founded by Jacob Holm-Lupo and Lars Fredrik Frøislie in 2007.They have released albums by artists such as In Lingua Mortua, Haakon Ellingsen, Wobbler, The Opium Cartel, Rhys Marsh & the Autumn Ghost, Judy Dyble and White Willow.-External links:**...
)