KUKKIVA POLIISI - Ilola

"Tagged by Audibot as their gentlest release yet, Kukkiva Poliisis Ilola testifies to the labels extreme output. Calm and acoustic, Ilola nonetheless frightens with its eerie silence, jangly guitars, and backwoods-at-night vibe. Led by Johanna Lonka, whose releases as Kuupuu are a safer bet for those looking for soothing fare, this all-female quintet strips their music of all excess, leaving only stark lines for the listener to follow. A thin trail of blood snaking to a closed closet, a chunk of old bone jutting from the soil--minimal reminders of grisly scenes. The twelve-minute closer, Pahasuo, occupies over a quarter of the half-an-hour-and-change of Ilola, and in it, one can hear the hallmarks of Kukkiva Poliisi. Opening with lost, out-of-tune strumming and a creaky clock chime, the track builds into timid, terrified guitar squeaks and insistent, human-sacrifice hand drums. With human howls and the Pied Pipers very own death-flute, Pahasuo, reaches a climax that abruptly ends. No resolution, no denouement. The players simply vanish into the fog of their haunted atmosphere. The remaining tracks are brief sketches, in which threatening rhythms and spiderweb guitars coax a singular sound-horror-movie violins, whirling synthesizer squiggles, ungodly chants-to a quiet death. Lasting long enough to evoke and exhaust a fragile, gloomy mood, these tracks are potent enough that their ending is both lamented and longed for." - Bryan Berge, Stylus Magazine. 2005 release.