Monday, October 13, 2008

Paavoharju - Laulu Laakson Kukista


From time to time, just when you're starting to think you've heard it all, there comes a new project to question and broaden our perception of what is music, creating something completely unique and also out of touch with anything else. Paavoharju are a collective that is part of a mysterious Finnish commune of devout Christians (!) and this, their second album, is one of those rare cases. A strange and fascinating collection of delicate pieces, there are remains of psych folk in here, along with musique concrete, classical orchestrations, impressionist pop, pastel electronics, abstract drones, experimental disco and torch songs but, even so, this is something else. With a sense of constant search for something greater (a consequence of their religious beliefs?), a hugely evocative atmosphere and even innumerous mind-blowing details that feel so strange but never out of place, the music heard in "Laulu Laakson Kukista" still feels much simpler than what you'd expect from the sum of its parts. Like some old and distant AM radio transmission, these are ethereal warm sounds to digest slowly while conforting your soul. (8/10)

Paavoharju - Kirkonväki (video)



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1 comment:

angelinjones said...

Compositions are powerfully propulsive, relying on the harmonic function of the instruments while simultaneously stitching together strong melodic lines and occasionally strafing them to hot cascades of notes. “Harmonia” features crisp, agile, insistent tattoos of saxophone, which envelop lulling, elemental rhythms and insinuate themselves into every interstice.
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Angelinjones
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