• Preview: Paavoharju - Laulu laakson kukasta EP [Fonal]

As an accompanying release, this new three track EP by uncategorisable Finnish band Paavoharju features two exclusive, non-album tracks, including (confusingly) 'Laulu Laakson Kukista' which didn't make it to the final album tracklist. The song meanders in melancholy, folksy fashion, taking a simple, scratchy guitar and piano motifs as a central theme, but it's all been conditioned by that unmistakably bizarre Paavoharju recording style that fills everything with a sense of naïve fairytale wonderment. A breakdown sequence (of sorts) reveals an odd, muffled hammering sound in the background, which could either be construction work going on a few hundred yards away from the studio, or (more likely) what passes for drums in this band. 'Kirkonvaki', as culled from the album, sounds incredibly dramatic, like a church organ recital interrupted by a few stray breakbeats (no half-hearted thumping on this one) and disintegrating cassettes of operatic vocal recordings. It's all incredibly peculiar, though not nearly as much so as the twelve minute live recording 'Kassetti Moskovasta', which could hardly have sounded more comprehensively eroded away, as if ravaged by years of neglect in a musty attic. That's almost certainly not how it came to sound like this though, you get the feeling it was probably recorded a few months ago on an incredibly rubbish tape machine. Regardless, the crumbly, decaying aesthetic matches the spooky atmosphere that hangs over the music. Awesome.