So the story goes... the other day I was talking to Jeremy from At Latl about the fact that you don't hear much music from Finland, to which I replied "there's a good reason." And while we chuckled in our collective ignorance, wouldn't you just know that I would run across an album of sweeping beauty and singular psychedelic majesty; at once natural and digital, melodic and dissonant, cooly sparse and warmly claustrophobic-- a paradisic sonic experience on a whole 'nother order that came from-- you guessed it, Finland.I'm talking about Paavoharju, that is; which begs the question of what exactly that could be. Paavoharju is a Finnish psych-folk musical collective of born-again, ascetic Christians formed around two brothers, Lauri and Olli Ainala. Their music is awesome and their latest release, Laulu Laakson Kukista, which I slept on for the better part of a year, is a revelation. It is like little I have ever heard, perhaps Vashti Bunyan, El Guincho, The Fleet Foxes or even Dead Can Dance, though it's clearly merely similarity because their sound is intense and personal. Check it for yourself...Paavoharju: Kevtrumpu
