These crazy Finns have tapped into something really special here. This album has it all: Strange, wonderfully over-the-top melodies, lots of lo-fi ambient noise, and an otherworldly female voice floating above it all.
The constant hiss and feedback can be annoying at first, but you eventually realize that it’s integral to the music, especially on the more rhythmic tracks. It’s hard to tell whether the little jabs of static that wrap around the drums are intentional or incidental. Either way they sound pretty awesome.
Here’s what their record label has to say about them:
"Paavoharju comes from Savonlinna, Finland. The group is a collective project of ascetic born-again Christians. The sound is something between Bollywood music, church hymns, beautiful pop tunes and ambient esoteric noises. The lyrics are very spiritual in sound and text. Paavoharju sing of branches touching the surface of the water and walking down a black street to an old inn."