Floor 67 (White Willow, 2011)

This isn't the only song by White Willow you'll find in my blog and this one's from the Norvegian band's  sixth studio album "Terminal Twilight", a dark coffer full of pleasant surprises. "Floor 67", for example, starts as a slow, nostalgic track based on dreaming keys and Sylvia Erichsen's pure vocals. Then the rythm slightly rises up and a classic era keyboard progression reminds us how good prog rock can be. We also come across nordic folk, psychedelic sections and even experimental dissonant bridges.

White Willow's discography includes seven studio albums up to 2013.

These musicians are really good in changing and melting the moods, the tempos, the models, so that the final result is fully original and modern. The menu includes acoustic and electric instruments, flutes, distorted guitars, pulsing chords and even a stormy instrumental pre-final section reminding me of King Crimson. The finale itself is committed to a philtered Sylvia's voice à la Laurie Anderson, an arcane way to end up the song.There's a bit of everything here, and even so the track is coherent and fascinating. That's why it's here in my blog.

Anamnesis (White Willow, 2000)

This soft and mysterious track comes from "Sacrament", White Willow's third album. This Norwegian band knows too well how to revive folk-prog roots and melt Crimsonian dreams and Scandinavian darkness. "Anamnesis" has the sad and nostalgic taste of a fading winter day and also the smell of a fairy tale, with just a hint of wicked inside.

No, not the Addams. White Willow in a "Sacrament" booklet picture.

Sylvia Erichsen's vocals are exactly the same: sweet and devilish. But also the long instrumental final section is a wonder with its old fashioned keyboards and the winds drawing a hypnotic musical arabesque. Nine minutes of ancient lullabies along a river flowing from the natural world to an unknown otherworldly place. Out of this world, but deep inside human souls.