Y​ö​n mustia kukkia, Paavoharju

I just got a message from the Finnish musicians Paavoharju, who remembered that I loved their music fifteen years ago, and wanted me to know they have a new record out. What a ray of sunshine that was. I had a real habit for a lot of the Fonal Records acts back then. I recall being sad that Paavoharju seemed to disappear after three magnificent records, but here, finally, is another. That’s made my day.

In early winter of 2021, Lauri Ainala discovered a graveyard of glass negatives beneath the abandoned and dilapidated building known as the Solmu house. Erosion had already done its job, and many of the glass plates that were nearly a hundred years old had been wiped clean. In some of the pictures, time had painted ghostly and tattered shadows of the figures, beckoning forth others who had already been buried once before. Inspired by these pictures, new music began to emerge, which from the beginning felt like a continuation of Paavoharju’s first two albums in terms of style, soundscapes, and atmosphere. Yön mustia kukkia sprouted from the decayed edges of the glass negatives, giving birth to the third part of the trilogy recorded for Fonal Records.