Unusual suggestions by Uton

L'eau des fleurs is happy to release this impressive homemade Gesamtskuntwerk by Finnish artist Jani Hirvonen.
For these "Unusual suggestions", Jani, who did also this marvelous artwork, played himself all the instruments : percussions, kalimba, violin, radio, balalaïka, flute, kantele, electronic effects... These uncommon suggestions seemed endless. You can listen here and there some remains of avant-folk shapes but actually this LP is totally idiosyncratic in his form as the listener would experiment it. Each side is a multi-coloured mosaïc with some collage effects and variety of sounds and energies that make me totally impressed. This is what Jani sent me on June 2025 to introduce his record :

The making of the album began with a spontaneous idea to start improvising and recording various instruments — and to use these recordings as the main raw material for constructing a collage-like whole. From these recordings, I made several different loops, which I then began assembling into drafts together with fragments from the same sessions. In addition, I recorded more material whenever it felt necessary to add more depth to the pieces. Previously recorded field recordings also found their way into the process, as well as some other sounds from the archives. Listening back to the album sessions over a year after making them, I can’t even easily recognize everything that was played — partly because in some places the sounds were quite heavily processed.

The guiding idea behind the album was to create something different from what I had done recently, using a new approach — but also by digging into and re-using methods I had employed long ago, such as on the album Straight Edge XXS, released in 2008. I see that album as something of a sister or at least a cousin release to Unusual Suggestions. The aim was to preserve a certain primal energy, a so-called raw power, but combined with a more refined and attentive finish. Perhaps this was even achieved to some degree. But more important than these explanations is the sound itself — how it feels inside each listener.

Because the original version of the album ran over an hour, which is too long for an vinyl, the leftover material has been included on a digital bonus EP. It’s a fine companion piece — in case the listener is still hungry after the album… or even if not.
Jani Hirvonen

L'Eau des Fleurs is a French label dedicated to experimental music and devoted to sound art and international collaborations.

The name of the label is a tribute to L'eau des fleurs, an experimental novel written by the French poet Jean-Michel Reynard (1950-2003) and published in 2005 but we also love Roberto Bolano and David Foster Wallace