nuojuva: valot kaukaa

The Preservation label presents Valot Kaukaa, the second album from Finnish producer Olli Aarni. Valot Kaukaa is the first work for Aarni under a new name, Nuojuva, having previously appeared under the name Ous Mal. As Ous Mal, Aarni's 2010 debut album, Nuojuva Halava took the early promise of his CD-R releases into a beautiful realization of a unique sound that evoked both a curious nostalgia and a sense of future pathways, combining classical overtures, narcotic beats and warm atmospherics into blissful song. Aarni's beguiling vision holds sparer focus on Valot Kaukaa (the title roughly translates as "lights from far away") for a more overtly ambient space filled with delicate instrumentation -- including cello, piano, flute and violin -- as well as a new interest in the possibilities of voice. Spacey and intimate with wintry and autumnal shades, its whispered melodies and open drift making for a heightened state still somehow grounded in down-home feeling. The gliding vocal textures of Rachel Evans aka Motion Sickness Of Time Travel as well as one-half of duo Quiet Evenings -- is a recurring highlight, while Sophie Hutchings' dazzling, rolling piano propels Laakso into a wonderful orbit. Honing a special path explored on Nuojuva Halava, Valot Kaukaa feels like one long, suspended, beautiful moment. Mastered by Giuseppe Ielasi.