Pohjonen Alanko — Voice of Northern Lowland

Pohjonen Alanko is a Finnish experimental electronic trio comprised of two vocalists and a producer.  They had one previous release, an EP called Northern Lowland from 2018 which seems to be included as part of this new, larger release, a forty-one-minute album with nine songs, entitled Voice of Northern Lowland.

Judging by the crisp, dynamic production of this album, with its tight, perfectly layered and toned 4/4 thump, the group's talents could have been used to create house music, indie dance or new wave.  However, the music on this album is something a lot more esoteric, abstract and absurd, due to the spirited and strange performance of the vocalists.  Specifically, they have the propensity to keep it wordless rather than writing hooks, and to indulge in such devices as deep, overtone rich throat singing, often with a manic, silly attitude one might associate with a group like The Residents or Mr. Bungle.  Unlike the vocalists you'd hear in popular 4/4 electronic music, their voices are raspy and imperfect, without artificial tuning applied.

Surprisingly heavy distorted guitars are introduced after a couple tracks, and the album turns into a foot-stomping barnyard dance as the singer's growl rapidfire in a kind of circular drinking song cadence.  I'm reminded, oddly enough, of the upbeat Klezmer rock of groups like Gogol Bordello.  Though this group utilizes electronics, there's a surprisingly strong folk feeling to this album.  As the songs pass, it solidifies in my mind that this is a kind of ancient form of vocal performance set to the most modern instrumental accompaniment possible.  Much as afro-house takes music from ancient Africa and combines it with a modern form, Pohjonen Alanko infuses European folk vocals and melodic ideas with 4/4 house and dub rhythms.

The tracks from the original 2018 EP are more avant-garde in feel than the new unreleased material, with a tribal, deconstructed feeling.  The beats in tracks like "Tantere" aren't so much 'dance beats' as the kind of psychic driving pulses you'd find in power electronics.  The vocals in these are very chant-like, clearly drawing from Native American and Tibetan singing styles.  I'm reminded of Mike Patton's Native American music-themed album, Anonymous, which he created with Tomahawk.

The result is a very unusual take on 4/4 dance music, extraordinarily polished and well-executed.  The album is so rich with acoustic, folk-derived sounds and multi-layered vocals that they drastically outnumber the electronic sounds, and yet everything added serves to amplify the energy of the simple backbeat.  The manic positive energy of this album is infectious.  I imagine it would be a powerful thing to see this group live.