Kiila, “Kehotuslaulu,” Tuota tuota (Fonal 2009)
Go into any good record shop (e.g. Other Music) and head towards the Psych section and hope that they (like OM) have a Fonal bin. Like publishers from the indie Sun & Moon (sadly deceased) to the major Penguin, Fonal opted to create a uniform appearance, with each disk bearing the same spine design and format, and each having a vertical belly-band that keeps the sonic delights sheathed. But don’t judge a disk by its cover— open any Fonal disk and load it into your player and you’ll be rewarded. Having delved deeply into their catalogue, I can say there aren’t any duds, and that the core vision that mixes psychedelia with folk with electronic experimentation makes for consistent high-quality releases.
Kiila’s Tuota tuota is among the label’s recent releases, and is the band’s third. There is a careful but free orchestration to Tuota tuota, and a mixture of electronic and acoustic instruments (and some fantastic, presumably “found”, percussion instruments) that results in a hypnotic melange of styles, old and new. Fonal and the band have emphasized the role of pausing and reflection, of thought and community, in this album: “The motifs in the songs are not easy to render in English, but one can at least attempt to translate some of them: master of the house, elk antlers, tree bark, sound of rapids, fog, letters, calves, fingers. The list, however, doesn’t make the songs easier to understand in a foreign language. The words sound archaic, anachronistic or timeless, the language of the myth. But can they be something else, too? And how transparent do we want the myth to be? At the risk of sounding dull, I suggest that the songs do speak to their age, our age, the nature of knowledge and work, the fluctuations of inspiration and threat. Unfortunately, it is mostly only the Finnish-speaking listeners who will be able to assess the validity of this idea.
“The name of the album, Tuota tuota, translates roughly as “well, well” and signifies a thinking pause, a moment of contemplation. The language alone is likely to give pause to an English-speaking listener, but I hope the idea will convey itself in more ways than just that. And a pause for thinking is, of course, never a waste of time.”
Dungen certainly has broken through with English-speaking audiences despite singing in Swedish, and Kiila, along with the entire Fonal roster, seems ready to make a similar impact with their superb instrumentation, harmony vocals and strong structure. Give them a chance, and there will be more from Fonal to come here.
Kiila official site
Kiila on MySpace
Fonal Records
