Faced with a non-stop diet of similarly sounding RnB tonight I was beginning to despair until I came across this new track from KO:MI, the third one from an album, ‘We Said We Didn’t Know but We Knew’ which will arrive on 13th November.
KO:MI (Sanna Komi) was reviewed only a few weeks ago with the previous track from this album, which was the title track, and her ability to build atmosphere relentlessly into her songs was noted. And it’s much the same here, too, with what is the opening track.
She says, "’I'll find my own way' is a song born of pure improvisation. I wanted to create a very layered and textured piece of music that would have a floating feeling to it. The lyrics were improvised, too; somehow the message of enduring and carrying on seemed to fit the effortlessness I was searching for. The wandering flutes played by Suvi Linnovaara, and the comforting warmth of the cello and double bass played by Saara Viika and Markus Perttula respectively underline the necessity of care even while taking part in actions that require toughness and perseverance."
That’s a pretty comprehensive description of a piece of music by any measure but then again it’s a comprehensive piece. The early plucked instrumentation conjures up an oriental feel, as if they’re playing while sipping tea in an ornate Japanese garden and I couldn’t help but compare it with some of the tracks on Emmy the Great’s new album as she took a similar line throughout although the thread in her case is Chinese.
After that it progresses into a multi-instrumental and harmonic vocal jam with so much going on its hard to keep up. By the time it finishes it’s taken on an almost religious mantra as she sings “I’ll find my own way to heaven, I’ll find my own way to hell”. There’s a staircase just on the left, Sanna, take your pick.
This label, Soliti, fascinates me. Sanna Komi is in two other bands on the same label that we feature frequently, Pintandwefall and Cats of Transnistria; both of them excellent, while if you listen to this song on Soundcloud it is followed immediately by another label mate, Stinako and her song ‘Paino’. All in all some of the best music coming out of Finland right now.
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