SIINTO by Ilpo
SIINTO (Finnish for 'shimmer', 'dawn', 'reflection', 'glow') presents three compositions – or ‘geomusical objects’, as I began to hear them – that play with the notion of music as an environment and environment as music, exploring the potential between geography and music.
The tracks are long (20 minutes), with the ‘hooks’ occurring slowly and gradually over the course of the entire tracks; this is to better cater to the current demand for 2-minute songs with instant 15-second hooks.
(for a new culture is to be found in the spaces, silences and ruptures too incomprehensible to the optimisation algorithms)
It is meant as music to swim in, roam through, get lost in or bored by, zoom in/out of, journey with, discover alongside other things, be exited and returned to at any point.
Siinto and its variation Saraste (‘morning’, ‘dusk’, ‘first light’) originate from my artist residency at KulttuuriKauppila in Ii, Finland, July-August 2024: while there, I was invited to create a site-specific live performance that drew its inspiration and most of its sonic material from the local geography of Ii. The title track also features the voice of a dear friend who was born in Ii, abstracted from a poetry recording we had made years earlier; and while in the performance the voice travelled as a clearer figure in a landscape, here it has become more ecological – a sustaining part of that environment.
Kajo (‘soft light’, ‘reflection’) forms the backing track I created for poet Sanna Karlström’s spoken word performance at Sähkö #42 in Jyväskylä, Finland, September 2023. The idea has again been for a situation/site-specific soundscape composition, drawing thematically and sonically from the local environment and culture – and, in this case, from the content of Karlström’s poems as well. The collaboration was made possible by my residency at the Writers' House/Kirjailijatalo in Jyväskylä, May-December 2023.
A particularly vital layer in these geomusical objects emerges from the ‘stratified’ recordings of Ginette, originally performed by Petteri Mäkiniemi (the inventor of this wonderful electronic instrument).
Credits
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All tracks written by Ilpo Jauhiainen and Petteri Mäkiniemi
Petteri Mäkiniemi – Original Ginette recordings and performances
Heta Kaisto – Voice on Siinto
Ilpo Jauhiainen – Live electronics, synthesizers, field recordings, geosonics, mixing
Produced by Ilpo Jauhiainen
Mastered by Gregor Zemljic at Earresistible Mastering
Cover art and design by Ilpo Jauhiainen
Recorded in Ii, Finland, July-August 2024; Jyväskylä, Finland, July-September 2023
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My deepest gratitude to Petteri Mäkiniemi, Heta Kaisto, Sanna Karlström, Gregor Zemljic, Diego Castro-Magas and Alicia Reyes for bringing this album to life; the Orpheus Instituut; and to KulttuuriKauppila and Kirjailijatalo for their transformative residencies and generous invitations for me to engage meaningfully with their respective localities.
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Ilpo (Ilpo Jauhiainen, b. 1977 Finland) is a composer, music producer and sound artist. He works collaboratively and globally across the arts. His musical interests revolve around the possibilities and combinations of music and sound art, new global musical styles, contemporary classical and generative music.