Lau Nau

From Forests Where We Feel Secure

by coldwarnightlife
written by coldwarnightlife

LAU NAU & PEKKO KÄPPI
CAFE OTO
12 APRIL 2019

“Are you still in Europe?” asks the evening’s host, drily. “I don’t know.”

None of us do, any more. All the better, then, to have visitors from the furthest edge of the EU.

A taster for this year’s Ilmiö Festival, three acts have braved the threat of Brexit to present the current sounds of experimental Finland.

The highlight, after an improvised electro-acoustic soundscape from Ahti & Ahti, is the appearance of Lau Nau and Pekko Käppi.

Laura Naukkarinen has released six studio albums as Lau Nau, and she has earned an international reputation for her work in film and with Matti Bye. A frequent visitor to the EMS studios in Stockholm, Naukkarinen has assembled a suitcase modular system of her own, which glows like the one carried by Thingumy and Bob in Tove Jansson’s Moomin comics.

What is inside is as valuable as the Groke’s ruby: a tangle of wires patching circuits to generate currents that carry Lau Nau’s vocals through the crowd like mist from the sea.

Pekko Käppi, a long-standing contributor to Lau Nau recordings, joins with a jouhikko and material of his own. The ancient instrument reveals hauntingly beautiful tones as it is bowed, as the wind blows through the pines.

The duo begin with Lau Nau’s “Sorbuspuun Alla,” which fills Cafe Oto with the serene sound of Naukkarinen’s voice. It is ethereal and organic, rising as if from the forest floor.

The set continues with performances of Käppi’s own material, as well as a new Lau Nau composition. There are moments of fluidity, tension and release that reflect the waves of the Baltic and the falling of birch leaves. This is music firmly impressed with the Nordic experience, and it passes like a midsummer night. Or a dream.

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Lau Nau – Elina

by coldwarnightlife
written by coldwarnightlife

Lau Nau‘s Poseidon was one of our top picks for 2017, and it hasn’t lost its appeal in the opening days of 2018. The video for “Elina” shows off the album’s cinematic, fragile qualities, matching Enya’s dreaminess with the impressions of Nordic folk songs. You can keep your Hocico – this is what we want to hear when our hearts are breaking.

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The Top 17 of 2017

by coldwarnightlife
written by coldwarnightlife

After the loss of so many artists in 2016, it was a pleasure to see some of the original synthpop heroes back on the release trail. OMD, Alison Moyet, Erasure and Blancmange were among those with new albums to perform, and they all stuck to what they do best.

Against that backdrop, Depeche Mode‘s effort, Spirit, seemed a tired and forced attempt at American blues-rock.

Depeche Mode used to sing about danger, but there was nothing particularly risky about Spirit. Against a backdrop of nuclear threats, environmental disaster and grinding poverty, the millionaires from Basildon put on beards and taunted their neighbours for letting them down (again?).

The album contained many of the band’s familiar sounds, but fans complained that it lacked the magic of earlier works. We probably won’t see another Depeche Mode album until 2021, so we can only hope that by then Trump will be gone and Martin Gore will have rediscovered the joys of moody electronic pop.

In contrast, this year’s list is packed with risk-takers. From industrial pioneers to Finnish librarians who dabble in experimental soundtracks; from middle-aged Swedish dark electro songwriters to Belgian conceptual artists – 2017 was the year in which those who dared won.

17. Throbbing Gristle – Second Annual Report

It’s a reissue, but Mute’s release of Throbbing Gristle’s first album is a reminder of how potent the capital-I Industrial  quartet were in the second half of the 1970s.

In those days, entertainment for many English youths consisted of shooting fireworks at each other or gobbing on pub rock bands playing at high speed. Synthesizers were the devil’s handiwork, and anyone putting them on stage was a Rick Wakeman effigy waiting to be hung from the nearest faux-Tudor beams.

Throbbing Gristle didn’t care. They liked ABBA and built their own kit. The audience could throw all the chairs they liked – they were going to play on.

The unconventional, deconstructed sound of TG started riots, wound up the press and opened the doors to post-punk experimentation. Second Annual Report turned forty this year, but even in middle age it stands head and shoulders above anything in Pitchfork’s playlist.


Web site: Industrial Records

16. Pieces of Juno – Tacenda/Kalopsia

Norway’s Pieces of Juno released not one but two albums this year. Tacenda and Kalopsia each would have made our list on their own, but together they demonstrate the vitality of Norway’s most promising young artist.

We were treated first to Kalopsia, the “red” piece, which has been nominated for a national prize in Norway. Tacenda, the “blue” piece, followed later in the year. The songs on both albums had been written at the same time, but were sorted by Juno into different releases based upon their feel, setting up a duality that is reflected in their artwork and in Juno’s wigs.

In any event, both albums feel as smooth as stockings being drawn along shaven skin. Not that we would know anything about that, but Juno’s jazzy, trip-hopping sound is both sensual and seductive. The voice of Anana on a cover of Elysian Fields’ “Black Acres,” intoning, “I need to have this little death” – you know the French saying – just adds layers to this picture.

Juno calls her style “Northern Noir,” and it is as good a way as any to describe the sound coming from the speakers. Somewhere between Portishead and Nick Cave, with minor key images emerging from the darkness, with these releases Pieces of Juno has crafted a magical sonic diptych.


Web site: Pieces of Juno

15. Black Line – Treason, Sedition and Subversive Activities

An electronic super-group to rival The Traveling Wilburys, Black Line has a core team in Douglas J. McCarthy (Nitzer Ebb, Fixmer/McCarthy, DJM REX) and Cyrusrex (DJM/REX), and it draws in a long list of collaborators: Bon Harris (Nitzer Ebb), Jason Payne (Nitzer Ebb), Ken ‘hiwatt’ Marshall (Skinny Puppy, DJM/REX), Paul Barker (Ministry/Revolting Cocks), Jon Bates (Big Black Delta), Zack Meyers (Fear of Ghosts), Brad Apodaca (Fear of Ghosts), Anthony Baldino and Michael prophei Dietel (Annodalleb).

The first album from Black Line is completely funked up. “Shut It Down” provides a growling, groovy slice of EBM with McCarthy’s voice scraping like a strop razor over a stomping beat. It out-hammers Nine Inch Nails.

“Changed” comes as a mix from Venetian Snares, adding a touch of Prairie grit. There is plenty of experimental and industrial styling on Treason, Sedition and Subversive Activities, and it is great to hear McCarthy in a fighting mood again.

Black Line are opening for Depeche Mode on the next leg of the European Spirit tour.


Web site: Black Line

14. Parralox – Holiday ’17

Parralox‘s seasonal collections are always heavily anticipated, and the release of Holiday ’17 more than lives up to expectations.

John von Ahlen has a gifted ear for classic synth sounds, and his choice of material is always speaker candy for electronic music fans.

Holiday ’17 comes with covers of The Assembly’s “Stop/Start,” Human League’s “The Dignity of Labour” and Depeche Mode’s “Shine” and “Fools.” Even Fleetwood Mac’s “Dreams” gets a Parralox makeover.

The real treat is a subversive version of the traditional Christmas song, “O Tannenbaum,” with Katja Kassel guesting. Kassel’s breathy German vocals recall Marlene Dietrich, while von Ahlen’s electronics are playful; toying with the classic to emphasise Kassel’s poise.

Web site: Parralox

13. Goldfrapp – Silver Eye

Goldfrapp - Silver Eye Goldfrapp’s performance at Glastonbury was the kind of jaw dropping event that students discuss between classes the next day.

“Did you see…?”

“Yes! She was amazing!”

Alison Goldfrapp still has one of the best voices in Britain – up there with Jane Caley, for sure – and the show was a mad masterclass in stagecraft. If Madonna was watching, she would have bitten through her lower lip.

What Goldfrapp did live and on the new album, Silver Eye, was avoid the trap of rehashing Kraftwerk or early Human League styles that many synthpop heroes fell into. The results have been outstanding.


Web site: Goldfrapp

12. Anna Öberg – härsknar NEW ARTIST OF THE YEAR!

One of the surprises of 2017 was the arrival of Sweden’s Anna Öberg. Seemingly coming out of nowhere, Öberg stunned the electronic music scene with a cutting-edge release designer-made for alternative dancefloors.

Tracks like “Sin mamma” [EN: “Their Mother”] channeled the spirit of Danielle Dax, while “5 minuter” [EN: “5 Minutes”] and “Allt är ägt” [EN: “Everything Is Owned”] went in a harder direction.

“Härsknar” means “rancid” in Swedish, but this was an album with a fresh feel. Produced by Öberg with Charles Storm, it breathed some life back into dark wave in 2017.


Web site: Anna Öberg on Bandcamp

11. UUUU – UUUU

A sonic supergroup, formed from artists connected to Coil, Wire, Dome and Tomaga? Yes, please.

UUUU is the combination of Edvard Graham Lewis, Thighpaulsandra, Matthew Simms and Valentina Magaletti. Their self-titled debut album is a bonkers mixture of krautrock, experimentation, antipop and improvisation.

There must be a trend for songs over 15 minutes – see Frogmore, below – but we’re not arguing for stricter time limits when the material is as interesting as “Five Gates.” The piece we were really struck by, however, is “Verlagerung, Verlagerung, Verlagerung,” a track that could have been mapped out in Conny Plan’s kitchen.

UUUU have live shows coming up in 2018 and we can’t wait.


Web site: Editions Mego

10. Wire – Silver/Lead

Wire never fail to disappoint, and they opened the year with another compelling release.

Silver/Lead is Wire’s fifteenth studio album. In our review, we noted that it comes an adult lifetime after their initial outing:

Forty years later, Silver/Lead shows Wire emerging from the lab on the front foot, turning out the kind of material that the dream-pop set can only dream about. From the delightfully retro sleeve to the cleverer-than-a-chemist lyrics, Wire continue to hold their ground. Over their four decades as a combo, they haven’t blown with the trends of the times, nor have they been stopped by line-up changes, time apart and a near-fatal experiment with drum machines. The new album continues the pattern by drawing on the strands of psychedelia that were hinted at on last year’s Nocturnal Koreans mini-album and infusing them with a sense of groove.

Because Wire are at their most awesome live, we’ve dug out this clip from KEXP with some of the new material:


Web site: Pink Flag

9. Rico C – Frogmore

Frogmore didn’t get the attention it deserved, but we predict that the first solo album from Rico Conning will be a slow burner.

You will recognise Conning from his work as a producer and engineer at Guerilla Studios and for Mute Records (Martin Gore, Frank Tovey, Laibach – it’s a long list), but he knows how to make stunningly creative material of his own.

We were taken by songs like “Fluxus” and “Mercury” that were too long for commercial radio but we didn’t want to end. Frogmore is an album of dream-like grooves that carry you along with them like leaves in the current, and the journey is as interesting as the destination.


Web site: Rico's Reel (blog)

8. Jean-Marc Lederman – The Space Between Worlds

We didn’t finish our review of The Space Between Worlds earlier this year – sorry – but from the moment the boxed CD came through the letterbox it has been a regular feature at CWNL HQ.

When it comes on, there is always a moment of, “Who is that?” Rediscovering Jean-Marc Lederman’s latest album is a joy, because it sounds fresh every time. From the buzzing electronic arc of “Enter the Dragonette,” through the whimsical “Map of the World,” and on to the reverb-heavy touch of “A Darker Snare,” it is an album filled with an exciting experimental spirit.

The Space Between Worlds is Sunday night music: just right to listen to with a snifter and headphones while the world sits still.


Web site: Jean-Marc Lederman on Bandcamp

7. DAF – Das Ist DAF

The original EBM godfathers, DAF, reissued a selection of four albums in a deluxe format this year.

The set included Die Kleinen und die Bösen, Alles ist Gut, Gold und Liebe and Für Immer – all albums that a DAF fan already owns and adores. However, even if they have  listened to “Kebabträume” and “Goldenes Spielzeug” a million times before, there is nothing bad about refreshing the vinyl and adding a slip mat to the collection.

The real treat, however, was a 12” of new mixes from Giorgio Moroder and Boys Noize and a 7″ single with unreleased tracks. They might not have change lives, but their arrival certainly lifted moods.

We spotted DAF’s Robert Görl in one of the year’s most interesting films – the biography of Conny Plank. The scenes he shot with the famous producer and engineer’s son were particularly poignant. This trailer has a short clip with Görl at 1:01 that fans will appreciate:


Web site: Groenland

6. Psyche – Youth of Tomorrow

A new Psyche release is always welcome, but we were very happy when “Youth of Tomorrow” landed. It was heralded by a video that played on a series of 1980s music and television tropes: double-breasted shirts, Michael Jackson gangs and Tony Scott lighting among them.

The 80s have become a cultural archive to be excavated by synthwave enthusiasts and Netflix thrillers. It is fitting, therefore, that one of the original dark wave artists should dig themselves out first.

“Youth of Tomorrow” is great fun, but the flip comes with a serious message. “Truth or Consequence” is about the surveillance state and its discontents. Take it from Darrin:

Your life is on trial
There’s a price on your head
You’re gonna have to pay
For all you’ve given away
The security is all in your mind
You know the safety in numbers
Is making us blind
Your life is on trial
Don’t stand a chance


Web site: Psyche

5. Rein – Freedoom

Rein announced that she is taking 2018 off, following a driving tour schedule to promote Freedoom.

We will miss the Stockholm-based chanteuse, because she has single-handedly reinvigorated the EBM genre.

The Freedoom EP won’t be matched by Rein’s contemporaries anytime soon. With tracks like “Missfit” and the chantable spelling song, “C.A.P.I.T.A.L.I.S.M.,” Rein gave us something to think about as well as dance to.

Come back soon, Rein – music needs your kick up the backside.

4. Black Needle Noise – Lost in Reflections

John Fryer relocated from Oslo to LA this year, but the move to a warmer climate didn’t interrupt the flow of excellent releases from his Black Needle Noise project.

Lost in Reflections, BNN’s most recent collection, continues the pattern of excellent and mind-bending collaborations between Fryer and a long list of accomplished vocalists.

We’ve said before that BNN is the spiritual successor to This Mortal Coil, and Fryer has consistently proven the point.

What makes BNN interesting is the spin that the singers bring to the project. Take the alternately soothing and soaring vocals of Kite Base’s Kendra Frost on “Warning Sign.” Frost’s voice is simply stunning, while Fryer’s instrumentation and production are both elegant and dynamic. Ivo might have retired to live in the desert, while 4AD has become just another hit-seeking label, but Fryer is keeping the true flame of This Mortal Coil alive by letting the human voice have a space of its own.

We love the contribution of Jennie Vee on “Heaven.” Vee recently joined The Eagles of Death Metal as their bassist, but she also has a history of making dreampop material of exceptional quality. “Heaven” finds her in a darker, very personal space, and the results are magnificent.

There are also contributions from Front Line Assembly’s Bill Leeb, Andrea Kerr, Delerium collaborator Mimi Page, Omniflux, Zialand, Ana Breton and Sivert Høyem. Each has its own, distinctive qualities, but the collection is held together by Fryer’s sublime production.


Web site: Black Needle Noise on Bandcamp

3. Kite Base – Latent Whispers

Kite Base is as close as you can get to the pulse of London’s alternative sound.

Throbbing basslines, rhythms that tense and release like muscles, vocals both sapphic and seraphic – this is music from the core. Pity the finger-snapping hipsters from the suburbs who are trying to impress each other with clones of Phoebe from Friends.

After seeing the band live, it was no surprise to find that Latent Whispers is a mighty debut album. Dueling bassists, a drum machine and one of the strongest vocalists we’ve heard combine to perform sturdy tracks with a deep sense of groove. It’s like indie-funk fuelled by Irn Bru.


Web site: Kite Base

2. Lau Nau – Poseidon

Finland’s Lau Nau is one of Europe’s most interesting artists. She crosses bridges between folk, experimentation and chamber music with ease, and her output is a dream for movie makers.

Poseidon is Lau Nau’s follow up to Hem. Någonstans, the soundtrack to the eponymous film. It’s an antipodean partner to that album, filled with sounds and feelings drawn from warmer days. We found that the best musical signposts were somewhere between Virginia Astley, Ryuichi Sakamoto and Sigur Rós, but Lau Nau’s sound is both original and daring.

We expect that this will end up in a Hollywood music consultant’s bag of surprises sooner rather than later.


Web site: Lau Nau

1. Page – Det Är Ingen Vacker Värld Men Det Råkar Vara Så Det Ser Utt  ALBUM OF THE YEAR!

Sweden’s poptronica pioneers started as a singles band, but after three decades of work have honed the album format to perfection.

Det Är Ingen Vacker Värld… is Page’s meisterwerk. Eddie Bengtsson’s compositions out-Numan Numan with Moog filters and angular phrasing, but the secret to the album’s success is its pop intentions.

“Tid För En Kyss” is knock-out poptronica. No one else is writing songs like “Lägger Av.” Page’s formula is one part integrity and two parts audacity, and the combination puts the band streets ahead of its competitors.

Known as Sweden’s Vince Clarke, Bengtsson is fearless in his pursuit of pure poptronica. There is no auto-tune on any of the vocals. No concessions are made to the demands of hit radio. All of the tracks are made with authentic Moogs. The sounds are crafted without presets and reach straight for your hips.

You don’t have to dance, but if you don’t then you’ll have missed all the fun.


Web site: Hot Stuff

 

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Ends with the Sea: Lau Nau’s Poseidon

by coldwarnightlife
written by coldwarnightlife

Lau Nau lives on a Finnish island that is shared with only a handful of people. The sea and the sky dominate the environment, and between them the inhabitants share their rock with trees and the wind. The summer days are long, but winter’s veil lifts only to reveal a grayness that soon fades.

It is hard to disassociate Lau Nau’s creative output from that environment. Her last studio album was the soundtrack to Lotta Petronella’s film, Hem. Någonstans [EN: Home. Somewhere], which emerged from the amplifier like frozen vapour encloaking shards of Nordic ice.

The latest Lau Nau album, Poseidon, owes something to the sea, but also to urban scenes. It was not composed for film but serves as a soundtrack for life’s minor key stories. As Laura Naukkarinen explains:

I was playing my grandmother’s piano and shortly realised that I was composing songs that were the beginning of a new album instead of the film music I was working on. The songs wanted to be performed by a character called Lau Nau. It’s the melancholic, always dreaming part of me that stands quietly on the stage and shares fractured moments with the audience. The songs on Poseidon are small secular prayers and messages of love, sorrow and care. Poseidon is a god of the sea but also the name of a certain bar in Helsinki. He veils us in the fog when the night falls.

The title track is a wistful song that flirts with music-box nostalgia and dissolves like a memory. Lau Nau’s voice is delicate to a level that will make every man regret every heart they have broken. There are references to owls and moths, but the first Finnish phrase you ever learn may be, “Suudellaan, suudellaan” [EN: “Kiss me, kiss me.”]

For those looking for cultural reference points, there are signposts to Virginia Astley, Brian Eno, Ryuichi Sakamoto and Philip Glass, but Lau Nau’s music evades their shadows. Take “X y z å,” which relies upon minimalist arpeggiation and the sparkle of light on water, while Lau Nau’s voice rises from the waves like ozone. There is depth and contrast in the material that goes beyond mathematical niceties and tricks of phrasing.

Lau Nau’s words are carefully chosen; her poetry as sensitive as her tones. As she sings in “Unessa”:

Spirits in this forest
are webs among the heather
how light a sound can be

Poseidon ends in a crazy beautiful way with “Kun lyhdyt illalla sytytetään, ne eivät sammu koskaan” [EN: “When the lanterns are lit in the evening, they will never die out”]. Somewhere in the space between chamber music and experimentation, it is a reminder that, even if the landscape is epic in its scale and influence on the soul, the human experience is what makes it magical.

 

Lau Nau's home page: http://launau.com
Poseidon at Fonal Records: https://www.fonal.com/shop/poseidon-cd/
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Lau Nau – Kuoleman tappajan kuolema

by coldwarnightlife
written by coldwarnightlife

Lau Nau is an impossibly talented artist from Finland. Her music draws on folk roots, but like the shamanic potions of lore takes listeners to distant dimensions. At times, she is capable of hewing magic from the ice; at others, she makes you hold your breath at the delicate tones of her voice. In this video, released to support her third album, she’s somewhere between the Earth and the Moon.

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Lau Nau Shines Winter Light

by coldwarnightlife
written by coldwarnightlife

LAU NAU
O YAMA O
Cafe Oto, London
2 October 2015

In Finland, winter is coming. The days are already fading and leaves falling. Soon, the snow will arrive and the lakes will freeze over. When the Sun peers over the horizon, it will keep low, casting long shadows among the forests of birch and pine. New tones will be added to the sonic palette: the drone of wind brushing through frozen branches; the echoes of ice crystals falling to the ground. What would be the sound of your feelings during those months?

Lau Nau offers an answer to that question. Helsinki-born Laura Naukkarinen’s music is a deeply connected response to the land she inhabits and the people she shares it with; both appreciative and nurturing. Lau Nau’s transcendent settings of traditional Finnish songs and shamanic original material have led some to style it as acid folk, but in places the songs could be described as magical humanism – a musical counterpart to Italo Calvino’s less mathematical musings, perhaps – or soul music for the Boreal forest.

Lau Nau performs two sets at Cafe Oto, starting with a solo show. Her guitar and a Korg keyboard provide accompaniment, but this event is all about her voice. Loops are generated on the fly, generating ethereal harmonies which swirl around Naukkarinen’s lead. The material stretches from her first album, Kuutarha, to her current release, the soundtrack to Hem. Någonstans [EN: Home. Somewhere]. Horses run home and the touchiness of lovers is lamented, but attempts to keep up with the lyrics and identify the songs are overtaken by enchantment with her vocals. The cinematic sweep of this dreamscape covers a lot of ground, but it is anchored by a powerfully feminine touch.

A second set brings Lau Nau together with the evening’s first act, O Yama O, an experimental music project. The programme’s dialectic is resolved with a skilled improvisation that sees Naukkarinen echo Keiko Yamamoto’s calls, while Rie Nakajima tinkers with an adapted dinner service and guest artist Billy Steiger plucks sounds from his violin. The introduction of Lau Nau to the group opens up the spaces surrounding each sound, allowing them to expand, and at the end the silence stretches into the night.

Lau Nau’s official Web site: [ot-link url=”http://www.launau.com”]www.launau.com[/ot-link]

 

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Lau Nau – Kuun Mustelmat

by coldwarnightlife
written by coldwarnightlife

hostel_by_m_kuorinkiThe latest release from Finland’s Lau Nau is the album, Hem. Någonstans [EN: Home. Somewhere], which is also the soundtrack from a film of the same name. As with Lau Nau’s previous work, the boundary between modern classical music and experimental electronics is blurred in a haze of strings and chorus. The sounds make as much sense on a hot summer day, when the heat is bending the light, as on a frozen winter morning, when the sap cannot move in the trees, because they stroke your senses with the most sensitive of timbres.

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