Aistit

Hidas Valo

Valtakunta

Maailmanloppu

Aamuyö

On Hälve (translates in Finnish to ”clearing”; in Estonian to ”deviation”) the Helsinki-based quartet Musta Huone expands their sound palette and sonic exploration further than before.

At its fiercest, the soundscape is a maelstrom of noisy guitar walls and piercing synths that crackle and throb. These moments of anxiousness are counter-balanced with cold and delicate ambience, buried under intricate layers of electronics, as well as clusters of baritone saxophones performed by guest player Vesa Hoikka.

The overarching theme of Hälve is night time, both in literal and metaphorical sense, with the focus on deviants, hermits and outsiders. ”Valtakunta” recounts the story from 1980s when a locksmith enthusiast-cum-serial stalker evoked fear among residents of a Helsinki neighbourhood, with the song examining manipulation and misuse of power through the eyes of the perpetrator. Themes of domestic terror continue with ”Maailmanloppu”, in which the narrator – locked inside his apartment – is convinced the world is about to come to an end based on the ominous sounds he hears coming from outside his house. The claustrophobic tension is finally released with Cormac McCarthian slow-burner ”Aamuyö”, as the cities are on fire in a distance and the night appears to...  more
credits
releases January 15, 2021

Hälve recorded at Artlab, Helsinki in May 2020 and various locations around Finland in June–August 2020.

Huove recorded at Artlab in December 2018.

Mixed by Tom Brooke (Tonehaven).
Mastered by Jaakko Viitalähde (Virtalähde Mastering).

Cover art by Pietu Arvola.

Musta Huone are:
Ville-Matti Koskiniemi, guitar and vocals
Pietu Arvola, synths and noise
Santeri Paasiala, bass
Joonas Paasiala, drums

In their music Musta Huone combines cold and noisy walls of shoegaze with
atonal ambient textures. One of the central elements for the quartet – which
started out as a duo in 2014 – is northern melancholy, which serves as a
pivotal source of inspiration both in lyrical and melodic ways. In live situations
the soundscapes of Musta Huone occasionally lean towards a mesmerising
hybrid of post-punk and krautrock.

Musta Huone

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