Unheard Landscapes

Haapoja is a Helsinki-based producer and includes one of Finland’s current favourite bands, Okra Playground, among his credits. On Unheard Landscapes though, he turns to his own music, compositions and recordings he has been working on over the past few years including projects which have contributed to theatre and film productions.

The album is also a platform for his playing of the jouhikko and the bass jouhikko (Finnish bowed lyre) and it’s when this comes forward in the tracks that we really hear his soundscapes come alive. He made his own recordings in cities such as New York and Bangkok, Helsinki and Bamako and they feature alongside those from the natural world. The album tells a story, he says, ‘about a forest growing intertwined with a city, where various time layers, places and cultures meet.’

The music is beautifully crafted, but we live in a crowded world of similar recordings and maybe the listener needs more of Haapoja’s own voice; his scores are deservedly successful in the collaborative projects he has written for. Haapoja’s duetting with jouhikko and birds, though, is full of character, and the sound of the kantele (Finnish zither) always welcome.