by Dave Lynch
Issued in Japan through Disk Union in late 2007 and in the U.S. by Cuneiform in May of 2008, Viandra is -- astoundingly -- Lars Hollmer's first solo album to be released stateside. And while the album could be considered Hollmer's first solo full-length disc since 2000's Utsikter, he hasn't been sitting on his hands for seven years. Rather, the peripatetic Swede has been gallivanting around the globe, performing and recording with the likes of Samla Mammas Manna, Accordion Tribe, and Fanfare Pourpour, the evidence being such discs as Dear Mamma, Sea of Reeds, Lunghorn Twist, and Karusell Musik. Hollmer has been busy as a collaborator, but even his own endeavors during these years (like SOLA and the Utsikter ensemble) have had a "band" orientation that somewhat de-emphasized those elements of his artistic persona first heard during the '80s when he emerged from under the Samlas umbrella as a solo artist in his own right with XII Sibiriska Cyklar, Vill Du Höra Mer, Från Natt Idag, and Tonöga. In those days, Hollmer was often a creature of the studio, multi-tracking himself in the Chickenhouse, meticulously working out the details of his recordings not to make everything just right, but just enough wrong to cement his status as an "outsider" artist with an entirely unique and idiosyncratic sonic touch. Over two decades later -- despite the appearance on various tracks of old friends like double-reedist Michel Berckmans and violinist Santiago Jimenez, along with cellist Andreas Tengberg and, in cameo appearances, drummer Morgan Ågren, Samlas member Coste Apetrea, saxophonist Ulf Wallander, and several Hollmer grandkids -- Viandra is truly a solo Hollmer endeavor in a way not heard since 1997's Andetag and, before that, those aforementioned '80s recordings from the waning days of Von Zamla until Hollmer formed his Looping Home Orchestra. ... Read More...