Real Music for Unreal Times: Vol. 2 (2020)

In the spring of 2020, when the coronavirus pandemic began, the Helsinki-based percussionist Lauri Wuolio ended up recording his new album at a project studio he built under his loft bed. Despite being literally an “indie bedroom album”, it sounds grand and spacious, as if it were recorded in an imaginary wooden church overtaken by nature. Wuolio has described the album as “ambient chamber music from the future”.

The ten tracks were played with eclectic choice of acoustic and electronic instruments. Wuolio’s cupolas are accompanied by the Finnish bowed lyre, or jouhikko, and different viola da gambas (all played by the virtuosic Ilkka Heinonen) and cello (Iida Sinivalo). The organic instruments are contrasted by the distinctly characteristic sound of the experimental synthesizer Lyra-8 (played by Wuolio) that can sound like anything from a rusty harmonica to ancient choir of sea monsters.

Recorded in full isolation during the pandemic, the album is a deep reflection on the spectrum of various shared emotions the world experienced during the first 6 months of isolation and lockdowns. It is the second volume in Kumea Sound’s Real Music for Unreal Times series, that explores spontaneous reactions to unexpected events.

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