Islaja

Been a while since Merja Kokkonen dropped a track under the Islaja moniker and it seems that after a move to Berlin she's shed her Finnish-folk past for the darker shores of minimal wave and jagged electro-pop. Though, this being an Islaja album that puts this closer to the fucked end of the spectrum than the dancefloor, that's for sure. Garnering some obvious Bjork comparisons, likely because of the similarities in accent and the fractured pop filter, S U U twists itself through shards of shattered fluorescents, and jumpcut static to craft one of the year's finer dark synth stunners. Stripped bare like a concrete cube, lone light bulb swinging back and forth to a beat that's more felt than heard, the album hits hard to the chest with a metallic 'clang'. It’s an unexpected turn for a veteran of so many years in the Fonal kingdom of buzzing bouzouki and plucked chaos but the ink black shroud suits her well.

Listen:


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