WintherStormer- Woodwork
(Bajkal Records 222016)
From Aural Innovations #38 (Jan 2008)
Wow… I had never heard of these analog synth enthusiasts before. It
is primarly the Duo of Terje Winther and Erik Stormer (from Norway) utilizing
their large banks of analog modular synths joined by some friends on guitar
and various hand drums and percussion. They create some really cool deep space
excursions like the old Alien Planetscapes material and Dave Prescott but with
a much more hifi sound. Like Alien Planetscapes it is all improvised no midi,
no prearranged musical structure, just the feel of the moment captured in time.
The CD features 4 tracks ranging from the short 8 min Engraved to the 35 minutes
Monochrome. The CD starts with Pure Analog Forever (Colour Haze and Witchcraft
would agree with that statement!). Lots of really cool spaced out synths that
come in waves before the space sound go in and it gets more and more complex
and then totally spaced out in the middle with some great synth playing and
later on some nice guitar as well and totally freaking out at the end. Great
track. Musical equitation extracted from Firelogs is next at 17 minutes. This
begins with some chimes and a siren like sound and stays in slow and spaced
out mode for a while and then gets quite mysterious and dark around 6 minutes
and goes through a lot of changes but stays deep out in space. Engraved is next
and almost like a band track with drums and some powerful guitar and great lead
synths. What an amazing synth sound they get…. Monochrome is the 35 minute
trip and will remind folks of Tangerine Dream for sure. I can’t wait for
these guys to get back into the studio as this is some of the best electronica
I have heard in a while.
Check out the band web site at: http://www.wintherstormer.no
Reviewed by Scott Heller