This band’s previous self-titled album proved to be enjoyable and interesting fuel for the imagination with its range of experimental sound improvisations so it was good to hear that two years on, Tottumiskysymys has another work out there. For those of you who missed them first time round or at any stage in your life, Tottumiskysymys is “a collective that creates unsound combinations of dark noise, children’s toys, musical clichés and weird visualizations”.
So, the electro-cosmic war commences. The News at Ten chimes can be heard faintly behind the force field. The expanding sound waves suggest a nuclear warning. “In” leads to “Ovi”. It’s like aliens in outer space are communicating with each other in their minimalist way. We are not party to this language. There’s a faint heartbeat. The beating increases and disappears. We are floating in space with a range of undefinable sinister echoing sounds seeping out of the void. The tiny notes contrast with the distant storm. These synthy guitar sounds are, I imagine, emanating from the intriguing slidetar. Tottumiskysymys do seem to be instrument geeks. There is percussion and bass, but the range includes an electric mandolin, a modular synthesiser and an otamatone, which is the likely source of the earlier alien communication, as well as the aforementioned slidetar. I’m mildly interested in the instrumental ensemble and others may be more so, but for me it’s about the collection of sounds and the images they communicate. This is minimalist and almost hidden.
The beat returns. “Ovi” means door but I see and feel no door. It is as if the imaginary door is ajar and strange sounds are escaping on the other side. “Vakum” (Vacuum) continues the squeaks and distorted assortment of electronically derived galactic sounds. Either that or it’s a train with defective brakes in a shunting yard. Probably not that, on reflection. Danger is present in this intense mixture of electronic noise. Following on from it, “Kierre” (Spiral) initially has the fleeting air of an imminent emergency, but it becomes very sombre and funereal. A previously heard watery sound like a warped record appears. It represents a sonic beacon or perhaps something or somebody is trying to communicate a message in code. Slight changes occur in tonality, and all that we hear otherwise is the irregular pattern of the drum. Most strange. From this we go to “Laskeuma” (Fallout). A monotonous beat like a mechanical process is prominent. Again, there is strange pattern of distorted whistling sounds which defies what could be defined as normal. It’s like a mangled form of communication. As the anarchic cacophony steps up, it becomes more terrifying. Things aren’t right. It’s grim and grey in spite of the catalogue of automated and extraneous noises suggesting a multitude of sources. It all leads into “Railo” (Crack). The atmosphere is one of foreboding. The nuclear power plant has a mind of its own. As humans we are outside of this loop and could not control it if we tried. This is the noise of machines, made out of shortened electric and electronic sounds. The pulse is the heartbeat, but not a human one, and the percussionist’s output is dark and hurried. “Railo” is an adventure of an inhuman sound. Whale-like cries can be heard. The drum continues to mutter darkly. The sonic pulse goes on. The sound intensifies. The net is widened. That drum beat is intoxicating. This is impressively scary, as it moves on relentlessly and menacingly like an autonomous machine in motion. The machine has its own language and communication. It’s an unstoppable force. Lasting almost 19 minutes, “Railo” alone made this album worth listening to.
“Railo” is a magnificent piece but to that point I was finding the album so obscure that I was struggling to relate it to anything, even taking account of the fact that normal human and sonic parameters do not apply. I found that this album needed at least two or three listens for me to get into its strange and imaginative world. But I would add that not being instant is an attraction and is testimony to the depth of this work. I believe that “Seos” means “Mixture” in Finnish, and if I understand it correctly also “Composition” in the sense of two or more metallic elements making an alloy. “Seos” the album is an alien world where musical and thematic elements combine. Musically, it’s at the extreme end of experimental but Tottumiskysymys make no secret of that. Thematically, while listening to “Seos” in my mind I found myself in spatial voids, wildernesses or in industrial or nuclear plants where mechanical processes and alien forms of communication take place without the inconvenience of human intervention. Indeed, humans do not feature in this grim but inventive soundscape. Tottumiskysymys tell us that there’s more out there than we might realise. Welcome to a very obscure world.
(7.5/10 Andrew Doherty)
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