Olli Hirvonen: Kielo
Ropeadope
On Kielo, Olli Hirvonen's roots are showing. Echoes of Finnish folk merge with American rock on the album's eight instrumentals, the music an original-sounding hybrid that reflects his experiences on both sides of the Atlantic. In Finland, the guitarist absorbed Nordic-styled jazz, prog rock, and metal and studied at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki; in NYC, his home since 2011, Hirvonen earned a master's degree at the Manhattan School of Music and has been a member of Brian Krock's Big Heart Machine and Liddle bands. All such experiences feed into the music he' s been making with bassist Marty Kenny and drummer Nathan Ellman-Bell since the trio's 2014 formation.
It's hard to believe its initial focus was straight-ahead jazz when the playing on Kielo is so far removed from it. During their time together, the three have gradually expanded their sound and worked towards the instrumental rock style on the new release. That label's reductive, admittedly, for a music that's by turns ethereal, raw, and rootsy, but the performances on the album are far more inflected with rock than jazz. That's attributable to two things, primarily: the songs' rhythms and the distortion-tinged sound of Hirvonen's guitar. Put simply, no one will mistake him for Jim Hall.
The title cut eases the listener into the album, the textural shimmer of percussion and guitar lines a seductive combination and the seed out of which the music grows. A classic slow-builder, “Kielo” sees Hirvonen's expressions calling David Gilmour to mind (the opening part of “Shine On You Crazy Diamond” in particular), while Ellman-Bell complements his shadings with cymbal splashes and a plodding pulse. Even stronger is the second cut, “Erode” (inspired by the Brian Blade Fellowship, apparently), for its even more dynamic transition from a lyrical hush to a shoegaze-level roar, not to mention a scalding solo by Hirvonen.
Shifting gears, “Outline” weaves spidery guitar lines into an infectious, somewhat Afro-tinged groove, the effect not a little hypnotic. A trace of baroque counterpoint is audible in the 3/4 patterning of “Current,” even if the trio's playing eventually gains in velocity as it morphs into a trippy rock statement. In keeping with its title, “Lento” unfolds slowly with painterly strokes, the guitarist chiming eloquently and building to an ecstatic climax as his bandmates fashion an explosive foundation. A high-energy treatment of Adrianne Lenker's “Vegas” brings the album to an intoxicating close when the trio delivers the song's changes and joyous melody with palpable enthusiasm. As should be obvious, the songs cover over a generous amount of stylistic ground.
If the performances, laid down in January 2022 at the Bunker Studio in Williamsburg, exude a visceral quality, it might have something to do with a recording setup that saw all three in the same room, playing together sans headphones, and recording to analog tape. With three instruments only in play, guitar texture is pivotal to the music's identity. Some of the grime oozing from the tracks comes from Hirvonen's arsenal, which includes slide guitar (its wail adding dramatically to the volcanic penultimate track, “Unceasing”), and Kenney's Fender Bass VI, a six-string electric tuned an octave below a normal guitar. Guitar aficionados with a jones for instrumental rock are well advised to check it out.November 2022