| Hevoset is the duo of two of the most enigmatic individuals of the Finnish Underground, namely Jan Anderzen and Jani Hirvonen, both hailing from Tampere. Anderzen is ringleader of a mysterious multitudinous beast known as Kemialliset Ystävät (Fonal Records), a part-time member of Avarus and Islaja and records solo as Tomutonttu (Ultra Exzema, Beta-Lactam Ring Records) with a new album coming out on Dekorder this year (hopefully). Hirvonen is best-known under his Uton monicker with two LP's on Dekorder and a stream of releases on Last Visible Dog, Digitalis, Ruralfauna, Jewelled Antler, Pseudo Arcana and his own Ikuisuus label. While most one-off meetings between so-called experimental and improvising musicians often sound like bad excuses for a few beers and endless jams this is quite the opposite - a heavy weight championship finale of two like-minded whizkids cross-fertilizing each other with idea after idea, leading to some of the weirdest and quixotic recordings you will have heard of the two. Everything you loved about Kemialliset Ystävät, Uton and Tomutonttu is contained in Hevoset.....and more. Rural psychedelia, out-of-tune plucked and strummed strings, overloaded organs and effect pedals, Jani Hirvonen's sweet wordless vocals, ecstatic improvised drone collages, bells, backward loops, jungle percussion and tons of unidentifiable sounds and noises shaped into tight 4 - 6 minute tracks. Extracts from a Foxy Digitalis review by Brad Rose: "This is the music of people removed from civilization. It's like this is some kind of ancient artifact. It grinds on your skull, but feels so right. (Š) There are moments when the things that make Kemialliset Ystävät and Uton great on their own come together in forested harmony. In particular, on side A when Anderzén is droning away on a keyboard and Uton is massaging your spinal cord with masochistic feedback scrawl - it's hypnotic. These two artists are in a trance here, channeling the sounds in their head. It's so fucking good. (Š.)This is definitely a case where the sum is greater than the parts. Anderzén and Uton are in top form here and fans of either solo project will chew this up and consume it for months." |
