Description
- The Barren Land Theme [2:33]
- Expedition [4:34]
- Zima [6:58]
![MP3 soundclip of Zima [3:00]](/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/m3u.gif)
- Polar Drone 1 [2:33]
- Soft Machine [5:59]
- Polar Drone 2 [3:24]
- Glowing [4:39]
- Pulsar [4:48]
- Map of the Mind [3:26]
- The Struggle [4:29]
- Distant Sun Rays [2:46]
- The Return of the Sun [7:29]
- Eyes on the Horizon [4:11]
- Glacier Blue [8:00]
- Farewell [4:08]
Arctic soundscapes
Paul Rijkens –
Recently, many excellent electronic music-CDs are released but every now and then one comes out that really does something to you and leaves you with a great feeling. Music that grabs you by the throat, music to hear over and over again. Erik Wllos The Polar Drones” is one of those albums. In his long career
Solarsen / United States Of America –
oh this is great!
2003. Solarsen / United States Of America
Glenn Folkvord –
One of Norway’s most famous and experienced electronic composers has released a CD with tracks that has previously been used for at least three different projects (not albums), including TV documentaries about polar expeditions, recorded over a period of six years. This makes the album pointing in different directions with less coherence that it could have had. Is it melodic? Is it trancey? Is it ambient? While variation is a good thing, there must be coherence.
Polar Drones works best when it focuses on pure ambient soundscapes, or goes intro classic EM / ambient techno territory.
Tracks like Pulsar, The Return of the Sun, and Soft Machine belongs to the latter category, and has great up-beat atmospheric beats that I can clearly see” are related to cold winds
Matt Howarth –
This CD from 2003 features 69 minutes of energized ambience.
Norwegian Erik Wollo combines the atmospheric qualities of Geir Jenssen (aka Biosphere) and American ambient maestro Steve Roach with his own individualistic arctic spin, generating soundscapes that are lavish but hardly understated.
Icy textures float like shimmering clouds overhead, while crystalline keyboards enunciate delicate harmonics that convey a pleasant frigidity. These electronics do more than simply evoke arctic landscapes, they convey strong tactile impressions that transform this music into a full sensory experience.
Exalted percussion provides congenial rhythms for this sparkling electronic tapestry. Nimble tempos inject an energetic flair to the even-tempered flow, attributing the ambience with a compelling verve.
Despite their languid nature, Wollo‘s compositions are passionate and gripping. He creates a dreamy serenity that is laced with a sense of tension infused with a softly seething power that remains unintrusive, but is impossible to ignore. His melodies are often considerably more complex than drifting atmospheric structures, peppered with invigorating passages that uplift and open one’s mental eyes to intangible beauty.
Some of this music was originally made for TV documentary films for polar expeditions, while other tracks were used as background music for the Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City in 2002.
2003. Matt Howarth