Juho Toivonen's LP Kasveille ja eläimille was a big favorite from last year, so I have been eagerly awaiting this new album Sisarusten toistuva uni to drop on Discreet Music. And as expected, it doesn't disappoint. It's pretty much perfect music for the coming spring, and I think Juho is one of the most talented experimental musicians in Finland at the moment when it comes to conveying feelings, colors, and memories with simple building blocks. He knows the power of minimal composition and cherishes the timbre of sound.
The music is very beautiful, homegrown, gently rumpled like an old blanket, and hands-on. Piano ambience meets subtle guitar picking with occasional field recordings of birds singing, perhaps some live recordings, a good dose of drone, and a great amount of tape hiss. It sounds very simple and minimal but there is a lot of happening across these 8 songs. All of these elements intertwine beautifully to create a very dream-like atmosphere.
The album is about a recurring dream shared by Juho and his sister. The record indeed feels like you are listening to vivid memories from your own childhood, as if through a skipping cinefilm, or like a lucid dayream. Similar in a way to how Boards Of Canada's 'Music Has the Right to Children' made me feel, even though the music is entirely different, with also it's atmosphere, but there is a lot of comfort in it. All hail hot summers, lemonade and Care Bears VHS.
