Chalk another one up to Eric (and Enrico) and their great series of no.signal gigs, sadly discontinued. Their June 2007 event at St Giles-in-the-Field church had Tony Conrad headlining, and was their biggest up to that point, I think.
Paavoharju and Islaja were part of that show — and, as mentioned last week, that was the main way I got to know that strand of Finnish music (though I think I may have stumbled on some of it, like Kemialliset Ystävät, earlier via Last.fm). Something about Paavoharju that night caught my imagination: I wasn't sure how much I actually liked them, but their mix of unusual instruments and arrangements, drones, pretty tunes, and colourful woollens was beguilingly Other. Quite unlike last week's Finland sampler Paavoharju sound like they couldn't have come from anywhere except Finland — well, maybe some Inuit region — yet you get the impression that most Fins would find them otherworldy too.
So I bought this CD at the gig, played it once or twice, and then left it on the shelf and forgot about it. Bit of a mistake, that, for only a couple of cursory listens this week suggest it's a bit of a cracker. So much so, that I've hastened over to eMusic and downloaded all their second album, which sounds equally riveting.
I'm not even going to try and describe the music. Try the video above or listening on Spotify. My researches tell me that the album title means "still dim" or "still dark", and that this Stylus review was instrumental in helping it reach a wider audience. A fellow eMusic customer writes of the second album, "A beguiling pastiche of traditional folk melody, tarnished wafting music box sound-clouds and enchanting siren song with a seemless [sic] electronic touch." Not bad.
 MusicBrainz entry for this albumWikipedia entry for this album Rate Your Music entry for this album Listen to this album in full at Last.fm Listen to this album in full at Spotify |
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