UNISALI

Esa Kotilainen (b. 1946) is the most established Finnish synthesizer maestro. In recent years he has released synth- centred solo albums in a steadier pace than ever before, undoubtedly due to receiving an artist's pension in 2011. This new album has a reference to his debut Ajatuslapsi (1977), which was a groundbreaking work in the Finnish music scene: one could say it was the first Finnish ambient album, entirely realized by Kotilainen. That album's first side consists of a multi-part piece titled 'Unisalissa' (= In a Dream Hall), so Unisali can be seen as some sort of a sequel. However, this time he's accompanied by bassist Lauri Porra and drummer Anssi Nykänen, both top musicians of their instrument in Finland.

The 55-minute disc -- 'Himalaja' (10:47) is omitted on the vinyl version -- mostly consists of rather short tracks, many of them shorter than two minutes, but the whole progresses seamlessly. During listening it's difficult to be on the map of the individual tracks, and practically pointless too, unless you wish to follow the verbalized level of the musical journey instead of just listening to the music as music only. Here's some of the Finnish titles translated: 'Return to the Dream Hall', 'The Gate', 'The Guard', 'The Window', 'Dream of the Electric Bird', 'Electric Bird Garden'.

The continuation of the first five brief tracks is marvelous. The presence of the powerful rhythm section works extremely well together with Kotilainen's spacey and otherwordly synth soundscapes. You could think of the late 70's TANGERINE DREAM at their closest to progressive rock (albums such as Force Majeure) as one stylistic reference, but this album sounds completely timeless and original, not retro. Whereas Kotilainen's debut album was mostly atonal and minimalistic, this music incorporates melodies and rhythms effectively.

The sixth track titled 'Ystävä' (= Friend) is, against its title, almost hostile to the ears with the brutal and rather ugly synth wailing that goes on irritatingly over four minutes. After that the sonic journey continues with mysteriously suggestive tracks 'Luola' (= The Cave) and 'Lintuluonto' (= Bird Nature). Porra's bass is very enjoyable on the latter. Birdsong is used also on the beginning of the following relaxed and dreamy track. For some reason tracks 9 and 10 are marked separately even though they're practically of the very same piece. Not that it really matters in the end, but the album could have just as well been divided in only a few tracks since the whole is a pretty seamless continuation.

The two final tracks get more meditative within their 9-11 minute lengths, slightly in the way both Vangelis and Kitaro have occasionally been within their longer tracks. New Age flavoured 'Kohti linnunrataa' (= Towards the Galaxy) has nice crystalline synth sounds while 'Himalaja' is in my opinion a bit tiresome and over-extended with its improvisatory synth soloing.

All in all Unisali is a great, adventurous and warmly recommendable work of electronic music with bass and drums guesting, even though the few weaker moments (especially the unpleasant 'Ystävä') drop my rating to four stars.