White Willow man launches new musical project Donner

White Willow and The Opium Cartel mainman Jacob Holm-Lupo has announced a brand new musical outfit Donner, who will release their debut album Hesitant Light through Apollon Records this Autumn. That is preceded by a single, a cover of Steely Dan's Night By Night, which is released on June 4, and which you will be able to hear on the free CD with the next issue of Prog Magazine (120).

Holm-Lupo describes the Donner sounds as "electronic music, first and foremost, but augmented with some guest appearances and a bit of a groovy edge to some of it. I tend to describe it as John Carpenter meets George Duke."

Guest-wise the new single features the esteemed Hedvig Mollestad on guitar, Hedvig Molletsad collaborator Marte Eberson on vocals and Toto and Steely Dan collaborator Keith Carlock on drums.

"Donner started out as a project where I was toying with old-school music making - just hardware synths and stompboxes," says Holm-Lupo. I took a lot of inspiration from 80s soundtrack music from John Carpenter and Tangerine Dream, as well as other electronic music vanguards from Steve Roach to Portishead to Tycho. But at some point I realised that there would be an overdose of glacial atmosphere and mechanical beats, and that if it was to be an album, I needed some human grooves and expression.

"So I invited a few choice musicians along on some of the tunes. Keith Carlock (Toto, Steely Dan) plays drums on three of the tracks, guitarists Hedvig Mollestad and Georg "Jojje" Wadenius (Blood, Sweat & Tears, Steely Dan, Paul Simon) contribute, as well as Elephant9/Needlepoint bassist Nikolai Hængsle, Tusmørke's Krizla and American synth-wizard Bill "Normal Boy" Bressler. The full-length album will be out in the Fall and will be titled Hesitant Light."

Artists

Writer and broadcaster Jerry Ewing is the Editor of Prog Magazine which he founded for Future Publishing in 2009. He grew up in Sydney and began his writing career in London for Metal Forces magazine in 1989. He has since written for Metal Hammer, Maxim, Vox, Stuff and Bizarre magazines, among others. He created and edited Classic Rock Magazine for Dennis Publishing in 1998 and is the author of a variety of books on both music and sport, including Wonderous Stories; A Journey Through The Landscape Of Progressive Rock.