Blog

  • Carbon after Flow

    For the past month, I have slowed my pace a bit and taken time for my family and myself. The Atonauer performance at Flow Festival was preceded by weeks of intense preparation, and I was expecting a mental post-performance crash. However, it appears that my preparation helped me return to my normal rhythm right after the weekend.

    Atonauer playing saxophone onstage under blue and red lights at Flow Festival.
    Atonauer at The Other Sound, Flow Festival, 14.8.2026, Helsinki.

    Two decades ago, Post Theatre Collective (then known as European Theatre Collective) was preparing its first show, and I was asked to create music for it. A couple of years ago, I collaborated with them again on the documentary theatre and dance performance The Cleaners. Now, I’ve had the honour of creating music as Atonauer for their new stage play, Hiili (Carbon, written by Pier Lorenzo Pisano), which tells the story of the first documented alien encounter on planet Earth. If you’re a fan of emotionally resonant science fiction such as Arrival or Contact, Hiili is a must-see.

    A hooded performer in a reflective jacket stands inside a transparent dome, with another performer behind them under blue and red lights.
    Jari Virman and Roosa Söderholm in Hiili.

    For the composition, I have delved into some fascinating topics, such as exomusicology — in other words, alien music. For Atonauer, the ocean is more than a large body of water on planet Earth, so it feels only fitting to reflect on the topic on a cosmic scale. Daniel K. L. Chua and Alexander Rehding’s book Alien Listening has been a wonderfully inspiring read while working on this new composition. It discusses the ideas behind Voyager’s Golden Record and lays out — with tongue firmly in cheek — an intergalactic music theory of everything. It is not only ambitious in its premise but also easily one of the funniest musicology books I have ever read. Highly recommended!

    Hiili will premiere at Konepajan näyttämö on 1 October 2026. You can check the dates and get your tickets here.

  • Atonauer at Flow Festival 2026

    Atonauer at Flow Festival 2026

    This Friday, August 14, I’m bringing Ocean in A to The Other Sound at Flow Festival 2026.

    For the last couple of months, I’ve been rehearsing and developing how to create this music in a live performance. It was clear from the beginning that I wasn’t going to just play stems like in a DJ set. I wanted this to feel alive, unpredictable, and open to intentional improvisation, listening, and performing, so that the energy of the venue and audience can transform and guide the music.

    My live show is almost completely free of prerecorded material. There are sounds from the album that I play, but they are not full stems. They are more like reconstructed memories that sound similar, and my setup allows me to transform them into something completely new every time I play. My job is to stay present and play in a way that feels true and honest. It’s not full impro — there are still songs — but they can be played in many different ways.

    My setup consists of synthesizers, sampler, a gong resonator amp, and saxophone.

    I didn’t want to build the set around hundreds of different elements. Instead, I modeled it around the idea of a jazz quartet, where each of the four components can support or lead. For the audience, it might sound like more than the sum of its parts, but that’s the whole point: a small window opens onto a massive oceanic view.

    See you on Friday at The Other Sound, Flow Festival!

    Tickets and info

  • Ocean in A (2026)

    Ocean in A (2026)

    Ocean in A is the debut album by Atonauer, released by Future Sonant on May 8, 2026.

    The album is built largely around the note A and unfolds as seven connected movements of post-ambient drone. Its sound world is shaped by blue, ocean, resonance, breath, tape echo, feedback, spatiality, and the physical experience of time.

    Rather than trying to explain or contain the ocean, Ocean in A presents different modes of it. Across its seven tracks, the album moves between calm and intensity, colour and vibration, structured control and spontaneous drift — allowing one tonal centre to expand into something vast, unpredictable, and deeply spatial.

    Atonauer is an artist character, who appeared to Lauri Wuolio in a dream in 2023. Over the next two years, Wuolio brought Atonauer to life through writing, images, and recordings. Ocean in A is the first work presented under this name.

    “This is the ocean, time. The waves crash hard against the sand, but the raw emotional power of the ocean in this moment is even greater. We feel it in the marrow of our being, as it shakes us awake. We tremble because we know the only way is to accept, and accepting is hard — even when it is inevitable.”

    Mastered by Taylor Deupree. Available digitally and on vinyl.

    Bandcamp
    Spotify
    Apple Music

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