Erik Norlander’s skillful use of five Moog instruments provides upbeat, ethereal song to benefit the Bob Moog Foundation.

Erik Norlander is a progressive rock keyboardist whose evocative synthesizer technique is reminiscent of the legendary Rick Wakeman, Keith Emerson and Jon Lord while remaining unique and forward-moving in its own right.

Erik takes many of the classic riffs and phrases from his various influences and reinvents them with highly emotional pitch bending, vibrato and authoritative phrasing. This technique combines brilliantly with Erik’s mastery of sound and production.

Erik has personally led sound design efforts on several major brand synthesizers, and his knowledge of synthesis and audio engineering are second to none. Erik’s live use of vintage instruments — Moog synthesizers in particular — give his concerts a depth and authenticity of sound seldom seen in modern stage productions.

“The Princely Hours” is an original all-Moog composition donated by Erik, available exclusively through the Bob Moog Foundation. Here’s Erik’s description about the instruments involved in the song:

I composed ‘The Princely Hours’ as a special piece for the Bob Moog Foundation using only Moog instruments. Even the percussion is Moog! The leads come from my Moog Voyager and my ’70s Minimoog Model D. The stereo bass is from my modular Moog system, and some of the sound f/x come from the modular as well, of course. For general textures and atmosphere stuff, I used my Moog Rogue, a real favorite of mine for that sort of application. The low bass drones are original Taurus pedals. The tracks were recorded using MOTU Digital Performer with reverbs courtesy of Universal Audio (Plate 140, Dreamverb) and IK Multimedia (CSR). The echoes are provided by the Moogerfooger MF-104 Analog Delay.

Listen to the whole track here.

Many thanks to Erik for this tribute to the Moog legacy, and for his support of the Bob Moog Foundation.