WHITE WILLOW – Future Hopes (2017)
Norway’s ethereal progressive rock collective WHITE WILLOW will release their seventh studio album, “Future Hopes“, in a few days. One of the characteristics of White Willow is the heavy use of synthesizers, including the unique textures of the Yamaha CS80, the famed ‘Blade Runner’ soundtrack synth.
If you find some resemblance at album cover with Yes and Asia your are not wrong; it’s a specially commissioned painting by legendary Roger Dean.
However White Willow has few points in common with the mentioned bands: this is progressive music more based in atmospheres and climax.
“Future Hopes” is diverse; each song on the album sounds different, from the soundscapes of ‘Where There Was Sea There Is Abyss’ to the guitar heavy sounds of ‘Animal Magnetism.’ The album also experiments with electronic and acoustic sounds, making it an unpredictable listen.
For the new album the band recruited female vocalist Venke Knutson, who apparently has had pop singles in Norway.
The album starts off with the title track, a good showcase of White Willow’s style with synths creating a sonic landscape and bursts of guitar, deep bass lines and dynamic drumming.
Then “Silver and Gold” explores a more mellow, acoustically based sound. Both songs fit Knutson’s vocal style, sometimes fragile sometimes breathy.
Things get vastly interesting with the expansive “In Dim Days” which has plenty of instrumental passages in it and much more power. Knutson has to muster up more nerve in her voice. A great song.
Along the same lines is the 18 minute epic “A Scarred View” which is the other track I really like on “Future Hopes.”
White Willow is a really interesting band, not your typically prog outfit. The group have a Tangerine Dream meets Renaissance thing going on, with a lot of guitar work but synth based and thus sounds more futuristic. On some passages, the drums sound almost mechanical, but I think it was done on purpose to provide that ‘alien’ vibe.
Give this Norwegian combo a chance, you might end finding a style never heard before. Ah, and Roger Dean’s artwork is pretty awesome.
01 – Future Hopes
02 – Silver And Gold
03 – In Dim Days
04 – Where There Was Sea There Is Abyss
05 – A Scarred View
06 – Animal Magnetism
07 – Damnation Valley
Venke Knutson – vocals
Jacob Holm-Lupo – guitars, synths, keyboards, backing vocals
Ellen Andrea Wang – bass
Mattias Olsson – drums, percussion, e-bow, sounds & noises
Lars Fredrik Frøislie – synthesizers, keyboards
Ketil Vestrum Einarsen – wind controller, ute
Hedvig Mollestad, Ole Øvstedal – guitars
David Krakauer, Kjersti Løken – horns
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