Hannu - Worms in My Piano [Osaka]
Click image for more pictures
Label: Osaka
Year: 2006
Format: CD
This album from 2006 just needed to be dug out of the crate and shared with you all. As many of my favourites go, they could start out with an odd impression and then just grow immensely on you. As was the case with this album, I just could not shake the feeling of something slightly out of tune, maybe evident both from Hannu’s choice of instrumentation and the sound quality of these, in a sense shifted out of their normal audible characteristics, but also living up to the image of what the album title depicts. Here are worms creating slight distortions and skewing the traditional sound of Hannu’s chosen instruments thus creating a special trait or theme for his songs. Although Hannu has his own sound, some songs draw my attention towards the recent and bleak affairs of Xela’s doomed Dead Sea, the creaking chills of Svarte Greiner, emotive bell tinkering and strings chiming, an off-tune flute and distorted samples but mainly that very xylophone melody that repeatedly catches my ear’s attention in the most mesmerising way.
Echoes of shrill and bleeping sounds are lasting impressions of the introductory songs, before Hannu on the title track strikes up a falir for somewhat off-beat jazz fused with his blend of electronics to conjure up a sound that is sure to please those who love the music of Mr. Scruff and Biosphere in a fun union. Then it abruptly stops, and the album continues with mournful guitars joined by an oriental-sounding whistle on the mellow Lyhty which howls like a wolf in the night. More whistles follow on the next song, always longing in their sound, amidst rustling of chains, crackling fires, creaking wood and a fuzzy, steady synth in the backdrop to a beautiful melody. In some ways all the preceding songs come together on the seventh song, my personal highlight Suruista Suurin, which is a heartfelt affair and creeps under your skin. It all ends when we come to Junassa, Hannu’s farewell and he does so in a tune that produces such a great feeling words just don’t do them justice. A feeble attempt would be to sum it up as upbeat, broken jazz-beat that blends the sounds of so many of my favourite musicians, Biosphere, Orbital, Goldmund/Helios with lovely, swaying strings floating over the light xylophone strokes and electronic guitar chords.
His source of inspiration is the outdoors, landscapes and places, nature, light, and cites other nice things too. His music captures a certain feeling of a place, and momentarily you are treated to a very special journey, bring on the hearth of a fireplace, a small cabin perhaps, nestled in a comfy chair with your favourite pastime. The album is a very personal statement and was mostly recorded and produced at Hannu’s home in Helsinki, but also uses sounds from four-track recordings Hannu made as a teenager in his home town in Northern Finland. This is definitely an album not to miss, evoking associations to the sound of Type and Miasmah alike, and artists like the aforementioned but also Colleen, Elegi, Goldmund, Boards of Canada, Fennesz, and the list goes on.
More information at these places:
