7 Wholls
          London Electric Guitar Orchestra
               Bisset, Kallin, Corringham, Teers, Mallaghan, Graumann & Nogalski

                    1: Whaill          9'27"
                    2: Whorls        8'17"
                    3: Wall             8'12"
                    4: Wheal          8'11"
                    5: Wholl #3   10'28"
                    6: Wholl #5     7'32"
                    7: Whole        15'05"


A seven movement realisation of Fred Frith’s graphic score ‘Dry Stone II’.
Played and built LEGO HQ  Brick Lane  London 1999

‘A guitarist solos, the solo is looped then a second solos over that, and so on.. This allows for a remarkable lexicon of guitar styles; heavy rock, progressive, lyrical blues, pages from the style books of Frith himself, Bailey, Beefheart…..I’d thought for long enough that we’d heard the last innovation from the improvising guitarist – LEGO have proved me very wrong. And any record that features a Scotsman bellowing (I think) ‘botulism donkey!’ must be a good thing.’ THE SOUND PROJECTOR

'The idea is to join individuality and collective reworking, similar to the puzzle of facial features that recreates the oddly freakish face of the Cd cover. There is no single composer and yet each lends something of his own, which is then changed by merging it with the subsequent treatment. Same and different balance each other by improvisation and variation: the titles of the seven compositions are all variations of the same cluster of sounds (Whaill, Whorls, Wall, Wholl etc.). The results are mesmerizing and far from appearing chaotic and haphazard the progression of tracks builds up a strong musical experience. At first more spacey and meditative (tracks 1-2), the three central pieces sound edgy, nervous, noisier and more sustainedly repetitive. The guitars are joined by the occasional organ (?). The final Whole provides a suitable climax with a radically joyous conjunction of guitars, percussions and spoken voice. It's the final Whorl/Whirl or Vortex which blends electric impulse and electronics, voice and rhythm in an entrancing summation of parts. Averaging 8-10 mins in length, the tracks demand attention, but also ask the listener to be sucked in and yield to a strange, certainly unconventional and non-melodic experience. Nonetheless it is all warm and human, not at all cold, alienating and cerebral. A "wholly" pleasurable and rich banquet for your ears, communicative and avantgarde at the same time.' Marco Pustianaz

‘Uniting the sounds of differing guitars into a unified mass. LEGO makes many turns in the road, yet their music remains fresh and on the cutting edge.’ CADENCE MAGAZINE

‘7 Wholls is a serious departure, seven abstract pieces of stratospheric feedback and fuzz, echoing the pungent atmospherics of Windy & Carl but with added Anglo-Spikiness’ THE SUNDAY TIMES

‘The most successful and satisfying project the group have undertaken to date: seven epic studies of process, guitars and drystone walls’ RESONANCE

'A sensitiver Ohrenschmaus for people with sense for blown up sound drawers'  www.recrec-shop.ch

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