(RIO/Avant-Prog) Lars Hollmer - With Floury Hand (sketches) CD+DVD - 2012, WavPack (iso.wv), lossless

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"Knead the dough gently with floury hands," read my sister Rinda aloud from a recipe for a family dinner in 2007. My father Lars Hollmer laughed out-loud and wrote down "With floury hands" on a piece of paper. "THAT is what my next album is going to be called!"

Wiandra (2007) was to be Lars Hollmers last album, but he had never thought of it as a musical end. Towards the end of working on Wiandra, he talked about wanting to make a new album that would be full of weird ideas and weird songs. He intended the new album to be a contrast to the melancholy and, at times, dark Viandra that he worked so hard with for several years. He said that he dug deep into his archive and found several hours of unreleased stuff, sketches, demos, and even finished songs, ranging from the early 1980s to 2008. He asked me to listen through the material and suggest a sample. That however did not happen as, in May 2008, my father was diagnosed with severe lung cancer and all plans were put on hold.

After my father's death, it took time before I could listen to his music again. Listening was simply too painful, too raw. But I had half-promised my father that I would complete the project and knew that he would have been happy if I did. I thought about this all the time but it was not until autumn of 2009 that I gently began to rummage through the material.

At first, my time with the material was something I did mostly for my own sake— a way of remembering and grieving. I had no real plan for its release. Gradually I understood how much good music I had found. Into this picture came Steven Feigenbaum of Cuneiform Records, who was excited about releasing some of the material and who patiently encouraged me through the selection process.

This is not With Floury Hand as my father might have imagined it and it is not a finished album. It is my selection from the more than four hours of music my father himself collected for his album. It is a mix of more or less unfinished songs and sketches that I love. It is full of wild and crazy ideas and antics, pieces of utter frivolity, but equally places full of delicate beauty. This is music straight from the heart. Just like how my father was.

This album is dedicated to all of you who enjoyed Lars Hollmer's music over the years; all you fellow musicians; all of his family, friends and acquaintances; and all of you unknown listeners out there. ..

Gabriel Strand Hollmer
Uppsala, December 2011

Comments about the songs:

1. Beat mm
A jam around a sequencer theme; my father told me he thought of it as a car song. To be played when you are behind the wheel. (The strange hanging notes around a minute into the song are to be found on every version of the song and is most probably a sequencer glitch that he left in deliberately.)

2. Siska
Siska was the name of our first dog, a very kind mixed collie/Labrador, who unfortunately was hit by a car and died young.

3. Crazy Stuff
Yes indeed.

4. Tyskromans
A fake German lied [art song].

5. Nyfin
A nice theme. I think my father intended to evolve this one further.

6. Mellan stol och bord
"Between chair and table," roughly translated. Also a song from the '80s, predominated by the Prophet 2000.

7. Skrona
A more recent song, probably from '02-'04. The title is translated "yarn" or "story not to believe in."

8. Tages
Dedicated to my father's good friend, the painter Tage Asen.

9. Kanske
Very stupid and very funny.

10. Den arga kvinnan
The angry woman...

11. Tivolimarsch
Another one of these tivoli songs.

12. Forutbestamningen (predestinator)
One of my favorites.

13. Vendelvarianter
Alternate takes from the Vendeltid sessions in the late '80s.

14. Okjak (med Eino Haapala)
A reminiscence of Von Zamla.

15. Ukuleles
My father did go bananas during Christmas '05 and bought ukuleles for everyone in my family. This is one result.

16. Bam ba ra
A small vocal interlude from the '80s.

17. Antilobo
Actually, indirectly inspired by my grandmother Birgitta. Very funny.

18. Innanpop
My oldest son Love's favorite. Roughly translated "before pop."

19. Proggovergang
Progressive interlude.

20. Talrika (original)
Original version of the composition made for the band Miriodor.

21. Radioyl
Radio wail.

22. Aningar (1983)
A darker theme translated "hunches" or "premonitions." From the '80s.

23. Go to Africa
Also from the '80s, a vocal jam over an arpeggiator beat.

24. Vandelmassa
A beautiful small song; the word "vandel" roughly means behavior of a sort and "massa" is simply mass.

25. Franklat (original)
Previously released in a live version on the LHO album Door Floor Something Window: Looping Home Orchestra Live '92-93. This is the original.

26. In the R.I.O. (concept)
As I recall, RIO in this song stands for Rock In Opposition, a series of concerts in the late '70s when my father participated with Samla Mammas Manna, together with a lot of other European progressive bands. The song itself is more a rough concept draft, but I thought it was fitting as an ending. Where it all began, so to speak.

CD mastered by Magnus Lindberg at The Vilhelm Room, Stockholm, Sweden. Video restoration, post-production and DVD authoring by Doug Moon at Inner Pixels Studio, Sacramento, CA (www.inner-pixels.com).
Cover artwork by Rinda Strand Hollmer. Design and layout by Bill Ellsworth. This compilation by Gabriel Strand Hollmer.
Thanks to the Hollmer family and all of you fellow musicians and friends over the years.
Text translated by Dominic Power.
Special thanks to Steven Feigenbaum at Cuneiform Records.

Review

by Dave Lynch

Encouraged by Cuneiform Records' Steve Feigenbaum, Lars Hollmer's son Gabriel Strand Hollmer completed his father's With Floury Hand project after Lars' passing in 2008, and the CD portion of this 2012 CD/DVD set certainly reflects the "weird" flavor the elder Hollmer intended. The tracks Gabriel compiled from the archive of his father's Chickenhouse studio outside Uppsala, Sweden effectively capture the unhinged spirit Lars planned to contrast the melancholy of his last album, 2008's Viandra. And in fact, With Floury Hand (Sketches) -- or Med Mjölad Hand (Skisser) in Swedish -- is a wild ride through nearly all the facets of his artistic persona extending back to the early '80s, served up in bite-sized bits. The CD booklet -- with a cover painting by Lars' daughter and Gabriel's sister Rinda Strand Hollmer that, in its own charmingly intimate "outsider" way, captures the sweep of Viandra's cover collage of people, places, and other highlights in Lars' musical journey -- includes an essay by Gabriel in which he explains the derivation of the album's title and then continues, "This is not With Floury Hand as my father might have imagined it and it is not a finished album" (hence the parenthetical "Sketches" appended to the title). Among the 26 tracks ranging from 12 seconds to four and a half minutes in length (and featuring Lars multi-tracked on accordion, keyboards, melodica, ukulele, mandolin, drum machine, percussion, and more), there is plenty of "Crazy Stuff" -- that's even the name given to a particularly manic, percolating minute-long tune. One hears snippets of nearly everything imaginable refracted through Lars' musical prism: a polka rhythm, tango-flavored segue, circus fanfare, and Balkan theme; Latin, African, and clubby electronic beats; dark unsettling dirges and an even darker exercise in slow-crawling synth tones and outright noise. Accordion-centric Euro-folkiness contrasts with rattling rhythms, warped vocals, skewed harmonics, and abrasive timbres. There's a tipsy German art song and a goofball ditty ("Kanske") with an intentionally ridiculous vocal delivery rather like an unctuous Continental café waiter crossed with a cat about to cough up a hairball. Gabriel describes that last one as "very stupid and very funny," but "Siska," a sprightly remembrance of a family dog (who sadly died too young), is warmly heartfelt, and the likewise upbeat "Förubestämningen" (Predestinator) is another light but "serious" highlight with large-ensemble fullness prominently featuring the sounds of a melodic flute and magical harp-like embellishments.

Other treasures unearthed and heard here for the first time include "Vendelvarianter," a lovely variation on part of "Misery" from 1987's Vendeltid, arguably Hollmer's crowning achievement of the decade; Lars' original studio version of "Franklåt," a classic theme previously heard in a live version on 1993's Door Floor Something Window; the ramshackle maximalism of "Okjak," a brief Von Zamla-esque blast featuring guitarist Eino Haapala; and an ominous studio version of "Talrika," written for Miriodor and heard on the Montreal band's 2005 Parade + Live at NEARFest. It all adds up to a worthy sequel to 1995's also 26-track Vandelmässa collection (there's even a track called "Vandelmässa" here), which slammed the "Door" (literally) on Lars' first Chickenhouse studio and ushered in the second half of his solo career. Much more than mere icing on the cake is the DVD video of a rare Lars solo set from the 2005 Gouveia (Portugal) Art Rock Festival; featuring expert multi-camera work (despite a prog rocky smoke machine inappropriately churning away in the background now and then) and great sound, the video displays Lars' charisma, virtuosity, and ability to command a stage with just his voice, accordion, and melodica, something the festival organizers thankfully realized. When Univers Zero bassoonist Michel Berckmans and then Miriodor (on the aforementioned "Talrika") appear in the second half, Lars' spirit of musical camaraderie is fully in evidence, although his tempos threaten to leave Berckmans breathless on occasion. And it's a killer, well-chosen set (including an effortlessly high-spirited solo rendition of "Simfägeldans" that even gets the art rock audience clapping along). The DVD also features a video of Lars and accordionist Fizzè in duet at a Swiss restaurant; the video is comparatively amateurish with erratic camera work and waitpersons walking back and forth but the sound is good, Lars performs tremendously, and the set includes his "greatest hit," "Boeves Psalm" -- so this is icing on the cake. Belated newcomers to Lars Hollmer's music might be astounded that all the music on the CD in particular came from one person, and those challenged by sudden stylistic left turns in a playlist might be utterly befuddled, left searching for a common thread -- but that thread is Lars' anything-goes attitude and enthusiasm for whatever he tackled. With Floury Hand (Sketches) is exhilarating listening (and viewing), and in a world now without Lars, poignant and bittersweet.