Ø — Konstellaa​tio
This album has some satisfying beat driven material in its first half, though it's more akin to the minimalist 'micro-IDM' found in Pan Sonic than his 90's techno releases. Fans of Alva Noto or labels like 12k and Raster Noton should appreciate the fine detail in the many interlocking filtered bass tones, tiny percussive clicks and pops, and haunting wisps of chords.
The alienated, mechanized funkiness of the understated, not-quite-danceable beat makes for an ear-pleasing bedroom listen that should appeal to fans of Burial and his ilk looking for something a bit more adventurous and deliberate. The blinking regularity of this music should feel quite familiar to anyone surrounded daily by machines, with their intermittent warning beeps, sounds with aesthetic qualities hardly considered by their original creators, who thought only of the functionality of their inventions. These sounds are integrated into the beats of this album.
The second half of the album (starting with "Elämän Puu") trails off into absolute emptiness, and soon no hint of rhythmic structure remains. This is a common occurence in Vainio's recordings, in fact his recent solo albums take place almost completely in an uncomfortably silent, ultra-minimalist realm. Luckily, what we have here is not near so cold and barren as the sparsest moments of "Hephaestus" or "Magnetite". This is certainly still a brooding, dark and ominous sound, but one more distinctly human and emotional.
"Elämän Puu" in particular reminds me of the kind of soundtracks used by David Lynch in the quietest and tensest moments of his films, in which haunting and dissonant synth pads create meandering murmurs over a hushed backdrop. Even these chords fade away after several minutes, leaving distant ringing, muffled howling wind, and an unsettling tone that grows to loud volume only to abruptly 'cut' with a snipping sound, a gestural device often employed by Nurse With Wound. The last part of the track is mesmerizing, bass tones so deep they seem to caress the room, with forlorn music box tones cascading watery delays in expression of profound loneliness.
"Talvipäivä, Vanha Motelli" is an even quieter track, with vintage sounds of crackling, hissing and analog tape noise. At the times the soft pops are like drops of rain on the snow. After nearly 3 minutes, a guitar enters with desolate, patient meandering notes, with a long delay, as if to indicate the emptiness of a landscape. These ghosts of sounds are replaced by ghosts of themselves, and the silence deepens. This is a level of solitude many may not experience even when totally alone, as it would require living in a rural location. The music box / xylophone like melody from early appears again, swelling from the dark. This feels somehow more human and relatable than Vainio's usual output, and I feel this ambience is more melodic.
I enjoy "Konstellaatio" a great deal, where Mika Vainio's solo albums have let me down, and the reason is this - diversity. This album contains a little bit of each style Vainio creates, and never dwells too long in the uncomfortably cold and digitally distorted zones that many of his albums stray into. Quiet as it is, this album has a thoughtful, narrative pacing and a sense of melancholy beauty throughout, and seems to take the listener into consideration a lot more than an album like the recent "Hephaestus". That said, avoid this recording and any by Vainio if 'intimidating emptiness' doesn't sound like your idea of good music.