MIRAGE

Koutus is a wilderness area in Finnish Lapland. Accordion player and composer Harri Kuusijärvi named his instrumental avant-fusion group after the location near his hometown to reflect his approach to making music. "My musical roots are far reaching and I seem to be in a constant process of discovering them. They reach out to different worlds and form a universe of musical stories that is ever expanding", he writes in his liner notes of the group's third studio album Mirage.

The rather Crimsonesque debut Koutus (2014) was a trio effort of Kuusijärvi, guitarist Veikki Virkajärvi and drummer Tatu Rönkkö. To my ears somewhat warmer second album Music for a Family Picnic (2017) saw Kuusijärvi and Virkajärvi accompanied by vibes & effects man Teho Majamäki, bassist Eero Tikkanen and drummer Jesse Ojajärvi. The line-up and instrumentation is again new: Kuusijärvi (accordion, electronics), Virkajärvi (electric guitar) and Ojajärvi (drums, percussion) are joined by one new member, Mikael Myrskog (synthesizers, electronics). Mirage is a solid fusion album, both accessible enough for contemporary jazz/fusion listeners and dynamically adventurous enough not bore the more demanding prog oriented listeners. Much of the album's music was already heard on Live in Helsinki, recorded on March 3rd and released in June 2020. Mirage followed just a few months later.

The opener 'Lumi' (= Snow) is a calm, reflective and spatial piece. Accordion's introspective melodies, electronics, nuanced guitar textures and the powerful elegance of the rhythm section are here and there coloured by the sound effects of a car ride with the navigator's female voice giving guidance in Finnish. 'Safari' is a more lively fusion composition and has a nice playful atmosphere. The near 8-minute title track is my favourite for its hypnotic and highly dynamic nature. The guitar takes the lead in the powerful middle part. This is an impressive mixture of fusion and avantish instrumental prog.

The nervously edgy 'Dark Matter' with a noisy, distorted guitar sound is not exactly up to my taste, but for the more avant-oriented listeners it undoubtedly increases the album's overall appeal. 'Azulin iltapäivä' (= Azul's Afternoon) is comparable to 'Lumi' as an introspective and spatial piece. After two more fairly good pieces the album is closed by 'Apina Revisited' (the map printed on the leaflet reveals that Apina -- 'monkey' in Finnish -- is a specific hillside location in the Koutus area). This piece has almost toy-like, bright-sounding synths/electronics, as if to underline that the group has a sense of humour too.

To me Mirage is the best of the group's three albums this far; 3½ stars rounded up. Accordion is an instrument I don't generally enjoy very much, at least in the leading role, but Kuusijärvi's impressionistic approach is really to be appreciated. [ An extra-musical minus comes from the way the small text is white on light-grey, and therefor very hard to read without a magnifying glass. ]