Karisma Records announce details of the first of six releases from the back catalogue of prog legends White Willow.

On the 3rd November Karisma Records will release “Ignis Fatuus” the 1995 debut album from Norwegian Prog legends WHITE WILLOW, which will be the first of six out of the band’s seven studio album back catalogue that the label will release.

WHITE WILLOW was formed in 1992 by guitarist Jacob Holm-Lupo, who at that time was a member of the POLICE/BRUCE HORNSBY-inspired pop band THE ORCHID GARDEN, and keyboard player Jan Tariq Rahman from local jazz-rock/prog rock band DUGGVÅTE DVE. 

The two musicians had come together to see if they had any kind of songwriting chemistry, and, whilst sitting on the floor playing acoustic guitar and clavinet, the resultant track “Snowfall” proved that they did, indeed, have something going for them.

The band’s debut album “Ignis Fatuus” took the global progressive rock scene by storm, with 5000 copies selling out in record time, whilst stellar worldwide reviews and fan mail came pouring in and earned WHITE WILLOW  the accolade as “one of the most significant progressive groups of the current era” in Billboard’s “Guide to Progressive Music”.

Indeed WHITE WILLOW’s popularity was such that when the band attended the Los Angeles’ Progfest ’95, for what would be only their second ever live performance, they found themselves playing in front of an audience that numbered in the thousands and who had come specifically to see them.

The songs on “Ignis Fatuus” range from almost pure pastoral folk-rock, as on “Snowfall” and “Till He Arrives”, to out-and-out prog rock, as on “John Dee’s Lament” and “Cryptomenysis” (the latter featuring a guest appearance from VED BUENS ENDE’S Carl Michael Eide). It also included unusual experiments like the renaissance-inspired hymn “Song”, based on the poem by Christina Rossetti.

Whilst WHITE WILLOW didn’t, at the time, consider themselves a prog-rock band, more a folk-rock band that dabbled in symphonic arrangements, “Ignis Fatuus” nevertheless became a classic amongst prog connoisseurs, and the prospect of its re-release has caused quite a buzz on the scene.

The  “Ignis Fatuus” re-release has been meticulously remastered by Jacob Holm-Lupo himself, and features the original classic cover art.   

Tracklisting is as follows:

1. Snowfall

2. Lord of Night

3. Song

4. Ingenting

5. The Withering of the Boughs

6. Lines on an Autumnal Evening

7. Now in these Fairy Lands

8. Piletreet

9. Till He Arrives

10. Cryptomenysis

11. Sighs

12. John Dee’s Lament

“Ignis Fatuus” will be released in CD, Digital and Limited Edition Double LP in orange/blue vinyl.  It can be pre-ordered from:

whitewillow.bandcamp.com/album/ignis-fatuus-remastered
karismarecords.indiemerch.com (US)
karismarecords.no(EU)

Whilst WHITE WILLOW has now become exclusively a studio project, helmed by Holm-Lupo and often featuring guest appearances from prominent musicians such as  Norway’s guitar hero Hedvig Mollestad, or internationally renowned klezmer clarinetist David Krakauer, the band’s history  has been somewhat complicated.

Band members have come and gone over the years  with only Holm-Lupo having remained with the band since its inception, whilst WOBBLERS Lars Fredrik Frøislie has been a mainstay since 2001. 

WHITE WILLOW’s  sound too has undergone changes, but it’s safe to say that it  is frequently centered around female vocals and an expanded instrumentation that usually includes a host of analogue synthesizers, mellotron, woodwinds and strings, in addition, of course to traditional rock instrumentation.

As well as “Ignis Fatuus”, Karisma Records will also be releasing the following WHITE WILLOW albums:

Ex Tenebris – 1998

Sacrament – 2000

Storm Season – 2004

Signal to Noise – 2006

Terminal Twilight – 2011

More information about WHITE WILLOW can be found at https://www.facebook.com/whitewillowband

A video for the track “Kansas Regrets” from WHITE WILLOW’s 2011 album “Terminal Twilight” can be seen at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpoK4YUKYu0&ab_channel=BlankTV