Aava tuulen maa

Albeit insignificant, that is a cute cultural exchange. We give you KAUAN, you give us KYRCK. Not exactly an even trade, (hey, I can sort of see your ball park from my ball park!) as the latter got so many more kilos on the former. Then again, when the former can drown the whole dead weight of the latter in seas of melancholy, the P.O.V. shifts slightly so, but anyway...

I remember picking up Kauan's debut on a whim (nice pensive cover) and thinking: "This is adorable! TENHI finally rolled towards the edge of their farm (from where you can kind-of, sort-of see the city line on the horizon and just enough for an extension cord reach), plugged in and flexed a muscle or two. Yaaay!" Then of course I naturally missed out on the sophomore effort, but after finally receiving this latest addition to the family, I don't think it mattered all that much. Progress-shmogress. Anton put aside his distortion pedals and gave himself almost entirely to his inner introspection. Essentially, the upper crust was "shaved off" and/or refined in order to discard the most obvious doom metal aspects. Gradually, that is, which is where transitional "Tietajan Laulu" comes in, or so I reckon. I believe they call this process "resurfacing".

I should probably apologize to KAUAN for initially adopting a tone entirely inappropriate for the kind of mood this record evokes, but perhaps an opposing angle would open up a few extra pores. The comparisons, however, much like the proverbial song, will mostly remain the same: TENHI, the more tranquil moments of AGALLOCH (which especially pertains to all the clean electric guitar picking, starting with the opening mood-setting track, which gave me an instant flashback), or the now forgotten THIS EMPTY FLOW (at least their first record "Magenta Skycode"). The latter did possess a more spacey rather than the kind of semi-pastoral/semi-gothic flair, but nonetheless. Oh, and did I mention the more than frequent comparisons to SIGUR ROS (why not MOGWAI?) on various web resources? No? Well, this would be the perfect excuse to bring up the cursed "post-rock" tag and my uneasy relationship with this particular brand, but I will spare this discussion for everyone's sake.

Want to call it post-rock? Go ahead. Post-rock meets neo-folk? Even better. How about an archaic indie term "downer rock"? Oh, you despise any kind of categorization? That's the spirit! If there anything that I could add to the debate, it would probably be the modestly descriptive fact that despite the songs' lengths, "Aav Tuulen Maa" does not really focus on any sort of prolonged, major build-ups and overly dramatic climaxes, for which post-rock is known for. The loud/quiet dynamic is most certainly there. However, Anton prefers to fill his songs with an ongoing ebb and flow, rather than truly massive ascents and apexes, although the principle modus operandi is pretty much the same. The difference is in the emotional impact. The album flows like a normally quiet country river but on an unusually inclement day. That is to say, not with the sense of any direct aggression but with a feel of quiet unease. Thus, on each song Anton throws out some light waves, so to speak, or an aftershock of intensity (specifically on the third track "Fohn", a short burst at 2:45 is even reminiscent enough of KATATONIA or one of the related bands such as RAPTURE, but with an additional dosage of AGALLOCH thrown in, of course), replete with thickened, exaggerated sound (albeit still very safe, all things considered), in order to create an overall counterbalance and an interchange between relaxed, tranquil breakdowns and the more saturated, active segments. One of the results achieved, whether intentionally or not, is the record's near cinematic quality. In that respect, the autumnal, impressionistic paintings that adorn the entire booklet reflect and play off of the music quite well. I'd say in the similar way TOR LUNDVALL's (who might as well be another point of comparison in terms of some aspects of atmosphere and mood) music and paintings complement each other so well. Which brings me to the "feel" of it all.

The album can be viewed as an ideal audio background to accompany your looking out of a window at a pouring rain or contemplating over the flames of your fireplace, but without actually falling asleep (which is important). A sensitive melancholy - not all encompassing depression, quiet sadness - not shrouding grief, shy sobbing perhaps - not an all out weeping. Music for wimps, in other words? Oh yes! So please do not search for a purgatorial catharsis here. Yet there is really no point accusing this disc of "wimpdom" when the music itself seizes to be metal altogether.

Interestingly enough, some production qualities are possibly the most "metal" thing about the record, what with the considerably rich and dense bass and, to a lesser extent, guitar tone remaining intact, as if still anticipating return to the harder days, which, of course, never comes. Instead, the remainder of the instrumental arsenal is evenly tweaked (including the smoothly laid programmed percussion), allowing for impressively organic overdubbing, be it violin, acoustic guitar or keyboards. Speaking of the latter, the piano mode is put to good use during both, the moments of sparse instrumentation, where it usually takes an active lead, and the busier, layered sections, where Anton also activates the airy, atmospheric "Tales From The Thousand Lakes"-style "moog". Anton's vocals, meanwhile, are entirely clean, very even and calm half singing/half enunciating. Fairly monotonous it is but not unpleasantly so, which also prevents (or at least tries to) the singing from being lumped together with mainstream adult contemporary fodder. I reckon he was going for that quiet detachment and alienation feel, and I suppose he succeeded in that respect. The only vocal aberration appears on the fourth track "Sokea Sisar", where the performance is comparatively more diverse, emitting an almost folk-like vocal harmony, which is actually pretty cool.

Given the above said things, "Aava Tuulen Maa" can be easily recommended as another former metal or "near-metal" band who wished to quickly branch out and managed to pull it off gracefully. In case of KAUAN, the foundation was there from the get-go, from which, by the way, it could be readily deduced that its founder had only passing interest in metal. And I should probably reiterate that the good thing about this album, given its rather misty nature, is that it is not a snoozer. At a running time of just a tad below fifty minute mark, one can sit through it comfortably and relax pleasantly before an onslaught of the next up and coming slam death metal stalwart, or whatever kids listen to these days.

As far as speculating over the band's further artistic trajectory, I'll just say that the path chosen is hardly unique. I'd like to bring up BEYOND DAWN as an example of a band who went full circle back in the 1990's and early 2000's, through an entire cycle, from their doom roots to post-metal to eclectic electro-pop, while always maintaining artistic integrity and critical eye. Not to say this is where KAUAN is necessarily headed, but just to have a worthy flagpole around.

(Originally published in Diabolical Conquest web-zine)