as a regular subscriber to the boomkat newsletter (being one of the finest distributors of electronic / postrock / grime etc), i’m always intrigued to discover their ‘album of the week’ – due to the fact that invariably it’s from someone i’ve never heard of. this week is no exception. from fonal, the label that gave you yesterday’s paavohharju, comes islaja and her second album ‘palaa aurinkoon’. as far as the so-called ‘new folk’ movement goes, there’s a great deal that i can leave behind, however islaja marries common sensibilities with abstract production techniques and an avant-garde approach to instrumentation. at times, this raw, blunt, lo-fi experimental approach can you leave you baffled, however when it all comes together (particularly on the tracks ‘laviat saapuu’ and ‘vaeltajan laulu’) it’s a genuine joy. there’s three mp3s for your consumption at everythingisfire.
islaja (aka merja kokkonen) is extremely prolific – she’s a member of the psych-folk ten-piece collective, avarus (who run their own label, lal lal lal) and kemialliset yst√ßv√ßt. she’s also part of the trio hertta lussu assa, along with kuupuu & lau nau. download an mp3 below, and grab some more live recordings at mixoftheweek.com
HERTTA LUSSU ASSA meri on maailman veri
i realise i’m merely scraping the surface of what is fast being recognised as a ‘movement’ coming out of the finnish underground – branded by the wire as ‘new weird finland’. volcanic tongue is a good starting point to delve further into these icy waters.