Kemialliset Ystävät throw synth lines like paint splatters on a canvas. They’ve been active for 20 years yet their brand of collage sound comes across like the frontier vision of a fresh new voice. The melodies on Alas Rattoisaa Virtaa chime with a world music pastiche and the vocal samples scattered throughout gleam with a vaporware polish. It sounds like listening to a million different synth presets over the course of 40 minutes, losing each sound in a frantic cycle of samples. Moments of tribalism give way to splashes of modern groove that evaporate on the brink of being danceable and hooks chirp away like happy afterthoughts in the pool of synth.
It can’t be understated how profoundly dense this music can be. The paint splattered canvas can appear chaotic on the first listen but it becomes apparent that the busy layering of sounds is not untamed. This music is ‘composed’, in the sense that you might well be able to rearrange it for orchestra. The question is: why would you? As it stands, Kemialliset Ystävät are painting with a palette that only electronic music can offer. The sounds that are mined on this album are vast and full of variation. They reject the rigidity of orchestras and simultaneously subsume them with flourishes of harp and strings throughout. Most importantly the sounds on show are amorphous, blurring the divide between what is and isn’t real and declaring the distinction utterly meaningless. Ala Rattoisaa Virtaa is an album that simply celebrates sound and sounds great doing it.
Check out the video for Kun rajat sulaa or listen to the whole album below. Enjoy!
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