Reference Publications

Kluster - Mixed Media - Sound Recording Review

New Internationalist, Oct, 2002

by Kimmo Pohjonen (Rockadillo ZENCD 2074 CD)

For all you people who would rather gnaw your own arms off than willingly listen to an entire album of accordion music -- Kimmo Pohjonen's Kluster is for you. Really. This wild man of Helsinki is Finland's answer to Bjork -- and even that doesn't begin to describe exactly what Pohjonen manages to do with a pair of the devil's bellows strapped to his chest.

What's so special? It's a combination of the music -- folk melodies adulterated with electronics, voice samples and some sly electro-percussion from Samulti Kosminen -- and the performance itself. Pohjonen uses a monster-sized accordion. The size is important. The sounds he wrings from it -- the thing almost breathes -- are live, feral things. At times, you hear train noises, unearthly wailings and exuberant choral arrangements that might have a link to devotional music, and then again might not. Kluster may be an album made by a musician who's been claimed as a star performer on folk, jazz and classical circuits, but it's also one that busts any genre-fixing attempt wide open.

Nothing prepares the listener for the sheer visceral thrill of Pohjonen's s music. Tracks like 'Ohimo', 'Aroma' or 'Voima' set up a rich net of sonorities that are whipped into digital loops, ready to be doubled and trebled up again. Even in his more contemplative moments Pohjonen is nothing less than jaw dropping. Utterly brilliant.

RATING: *****

www.kimmopohjonen.com