Sola
Lars Hollmer's Global Home Project

THE REVIEW

There's something very attractive about the music of the Swedish Lars Hollmer, it must be his innate melodic sensitivity. A rather obvious consideration for any musician, but not for a prominent representative of rock in opposition, a genre that loves to indulge in improvisation, absurd times, and a thousand other tricks.

This simple heart, with forty years of career, which from the late sixties until two thousand and eight, recorded about thirty records divided between solo works and a dozen projects, left us a few years ago. He's gone, leaving his material body behind. I imagine him now, sitting next to the player Jones, on a branch of a mighty tree in some celestial garden.

Of all that he left us, it's impossible not to mention Samla Mammas Manna, a band belonging to the original historic cohort of rock in opposition, the one that smells more like a fair, beer, and sausages. But also the solo works, Looping Home Orchestra, Accordion Tribe, and many others, among which this project called SOLA.

In 1999 Lars Hollmer was invited by clarinetist Wataru Ohkuma and drummer Tatsuya Yoshida to play in Japan, from this collaboration this album called SOLA: Lars Hollmer's Global Home Project, produced in 2002, was born. To complete the SOLA ensemble are Kazuto Shimizu on keyboards, Hiromichi Sakamoto on cello, Yuriko Mukoujima on violin, and Kei Fushimi on guitar. Yoshida later replaced the drummer of Samla Mammas Manna in their last album "Dear Mama".

Choosing to talk about Lars Hollmer through this particular project is not by chance. Most of the compositions are self-quotes, homage, or tributes: "Nationjazz" dates back to his first solo album from 1981, "Arioso Nearway" has almond-shaped eyes and transposes the meaning of time from ancestrality to our days. "Continue" exposes itself so much in its desire to be Wyatt-esque that it emanates an unusual and pleasant spontaneity. "Arp Violin" allows itself a minimalist structure; little by little, one by one, the instruments come in, supporting a delicate crescendo. Could there not be a tribute to Samla Mammas Manna? In short, "Samma Zanzibar". An excellent reinterpretation of "Parallel Angostura" with a great Zeuhl finale, taken from the Looping Home Orchestra, a track that I got to know through this gentleman's album. And then moving on to "Yrsa Requem" which, like an omen, casts a melancholic glance towards its brief future; "Viandra", his last work.

In the solo works I had the pleasure of listening to, Lars Hollmer prefers the use of the accordion, an instrument that, with its familiar and seductive timbre, exerts a great fascination on me. Lars Hollmer is not a virtuoso of the instrument, he doesn't need splendor to highlight his personality. Perhaps this is the true attitude of a great anti-rock musician, to escape the cult of personality and dedicate oneself entirely to music, to live it moment by moment, to breathe it. The rio also stands out from other genres for this characteristic; often musicians put themselves at the service of the composition, an attitude contrary to the strongly marked ego of many jazz and fusion musicians. This also allows relationships between musicians to spread and intersect, giving rise to strange and curious fruits, there are very few static ensembles in rio, generally, musicians boast numerous collaborations, contributing to exponentially enrich this heterogeneous genre which, as you might have guessed, is my favorite and also the best in the entire world.

Thank you, Lars Hollmer, and have a good journey.