Absence makes the heart grow founder. In the case of
Finn duo Pan Sonic, it has been over three years since
their last official release, but Mika Vainio and Ilpo
Väisänen haven’t been inactive. After
releasing Aaltopiiri,
they embarked on a rather unconventional tour. Instead
of relying on their management to set up dates, they
posted a couple of adverts in The Wire inviting people
to suggest locations in which the band should perform,
as long as they were guaranteed accommodation and a
share of the profits generated by the events. This lead
to and eight-week world tour during which the band performed
in anything from back street shacks to major concert
hall, collecting a myriad of sonic elements on the way.
Despite the East-European leg of the tour being cancelled
because of Mika developing health problems, this journey
allowed Pan Sonic to approach their music from a different
angle, and Kesto very much reflects this. Having
relocated from Barcelona, where the pair resided since
1998, to Berlin, Vainio and Väisänen embarked
on the most ambitious project of their career. Originally
inspired by the work of Vainio’s favourite painter,
Francis Bacon, famous for his use of the triptych as
a form of expression, Pan Sonic eventually integrated
a fourth part to complete Kesto. All tracks
are named from derived Finnish words, but the pair offers
for most an approximative English translation, as to
entice the listener to enter their universe.
A mammoth release spread over four albums and towering
at well over four hours, this album is Pan Sonic at
their most experimental. Yet, Kesto is also
the pair’s most inspired and evocative piece of
work. As on previous records, Pan Sonic use a range
of purpose-built analogue tone generators on these thirty-three
compositions, which were recorded live to DAT tape.
If CD one presents a varied collection of dense industrial
sounds and static beats, the pace almost imperceptibly
slows down on CD two to finally allow the vast sonic
spaces of the last two CDs to fully develop. So perfectly
crafted is this journey that each album is totally unique
– one could choose to listen to them independently
–, yet is integrant part of the complete piece.
A threatening mood floats over the onslaught of abrasive
noises and saturated drums of Rähinä I/Mayhem
I, which opens the first CD. This settles the score
for the first fifty minutes of Kesto. As denser
clouds gather over Parkoisvoima/Fugalforce
and Louhi, there are hints that Pan Sonic are
actually taking pleasure at subjecting the listener
to their manipulations. They take their offensive one
step further with Rähinä II/Mayhem II
as the tension escalates to become almost unbearable,
and if Riimu/Halter provides some momentary
peace, Keskeisvoima/Centralforce threatens
to burst out at any time. Something that might have
been the distorted sound of a guitar once finally emerges
but remains well under control, before finally erupting
in the dying minute. Rähinä III/Mayhem
III echoes Rähinä I and II before
Pan Sonic appear to retire to more settled grounds for
the concluding two tracks, pre-empting the soundscapes
of the second leg of this project. Despite the aggressive
context of CD one, one cannot but notice that for the
first time in their career, Pan Sonic seem to be evolving
in more human surroundings, with shards of melodies
crossing the sonic scope almost constantly.
CD two kicks off in rather subdued style with Etäisyys/Distance,
as it progresses to a surprisingly psychedelic ending,
and Konnat/Toad continues to affirm this second
album’s more gentle and approachable nature. If
there are still some abrasive moments to be found (Virtamuuntaja/Current-Transformer,
Johto 5./Cable 5., Altistus/Exposure),
the sharp angles have been softened, the industrial
sounds replaced by metallic ones. As the clouds dissipate,
embryos of melodies become more obvious, and as the
first ray of sunshine breaks in (Prospefk Vernadskogo,
Arktinen/Arctic), with only a luxurious plain
in front of them, Pan Sonic leave behind them the cataclysmic
settings of the first hour and a half and whole-heartedly
step into the most evocative moment of this work.
Pushing their exploration far beyond the realm of traditional
ambient to touch on isolationism, the two remaining
CDs are set to contrast not only with the two first,
but also with each other. On the third CD, Vainio and
Väisänen lose themselves in labyrinths of
austere sounds, recycling in part the sonic landscapes
of CD two. Here though, the accent is on the emotional
aspect of Pan Sonic’s work.
Three of the tracks expand over the ten-minute mark,
with Linjat/Lines towering at eighteen minutes.
This provides the pair with the necessary space to isolate
their sounds and work the atmospheric structure of each
piece to the limit. Viemärimaailma/Sewageworld
opens the festivities with sounds and noises drowned
in reverb, as if Pan Sonic had, for a moment, captured
the sound of space. Just passed the halfway mark, a
more mechanical sound emerges and lingers for a while
before disappearing in the distance, leaving only silence
to contemplate. Pan Sonic have, over the years, develop
a particular relationship with noise, but here, they
create density out of silence, chaos out of vacuum.
The harsh soundscapes might have been replaced by more
placid ones, but the disturbance is more palpable than
ever. Käytävä/Corridor appears
human and structured, yet it has no more backbone than
its predecessor. Despite the blank noise that opens
Ilmenemismuoto/Appearanceform, silence is once
again the focal point. Vainio and Väisänen
reach the most remote territory of their work with Linjat/Lines.
Reminiscent in part of the Musique Concrète movement,
there is very little for the listener to hang on to.
Each sound appear to only come out when the previous
one dissolves, as if the pair where examining a melody
at microscopic level, capturing every single detail
and blowing them up out of proportion.
After such an uncompromising sonic exploration, the
fourth CD sees Vainio and Väisänen returning
to more hospitable territories. Here though, the perverse
aspect of their music is not conveyed through sound
as such, but rather through the length of the single
track itself. Echoing the monumental proportion of Kesto
as an art piece, Säteily/Radiation is
over an hour long. The atmosphere setting however changes
almost constantly, ranging from ethereal to dense to
fragile structures almost imperceptibly. It is difficult
to grasp the full impact of this composition alone,
even after a few listens as the sheer extent of the
piece distracts from its content.
If Pan Sonic have, in the past, touched on some of the
ambiences presented here, never have they had the chance
to develop fully until now. That is the strength of
Kesto: although each CD shows a different approach
to Pan Sonic’s natural environment, this album
appears incredibly consistent, as if, for the first
time, they had the chance to piece the diverse elements
of their work together and give them a purpose. Each
section of Kesto reflects on the others and
places it into context. This might be one of the most
ambitious musical projects heard for years, but it is
also the sign that Pan Sonic have reached full maturity
and are now ready to disassemble their soundscapes once
again, knowing that each part has its own place, whatever
the perspective.
5/5 |
