{"id":346806,"date":"2025-12-16T11:39:28","date_gmt":"2025-12-16T11:39:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/ambient-music\/o-mika-vainio-franz-kirmann-ambientblog\/"},"modified":"2025-12-16T11:39:28","modified_gmt":"2025-12-16T11:39:28","slug":"o-mika-vainio-franz-kirmann-ambientblog","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=346806","title":{"rendered":"\u00d8 (Mika Vainio) * Franz Kirmann \u2013 Ambientblog"},"content":{"rendered":"


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\"Sysivalo\"\"Sysivalo\"<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

\u00d8 \u2013 SYSIVALO<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/h3>\n

Mika Vainio<\/a><\/em><\/strong> was (was, indeed: he died in 2017 at the age of 53) a Finnish electronic musician, composer, and producer of huge importance. He was one half of Pan Sonic (with Ilpo V\u00e4is\u00e4nen), but also released his work under various other aliases. One of these pseudonyms is \u00d8.
As \u00d8, he released 9 albums (including Sysivalo). All of them are released on the S\u00e4hk\u00f6 Recordings label, which he co-founded together with Tommi Gr\u00f6nlund.<\/em> \u2018S\u00e4hk\u00f6\u2019, by the way, is the Finnish word for Electricity.<\/p>\n

The album\u2019s title, Sysivalo<\/strong><\/em>, is a combination of the Finnish words for dark or sinister (sysi) and light (valo). Vainio<\/em><\/strong> recorded the music for this album from 2014-2017, but sadly passed away before it was finished and released. <\/p>\n

The 20 tracks are compiled \u2018post mortem\u2019 by Rikke Lundgreen<\/em> and Tommi Gr\u00f6nlund<\/em> according to Mika<\/em><\/strong>\u2018s <\/em>notes. In these notes, Vainio<\/em><\/strong> described the record as \u201ca distinct \u00d8 album that was going to include several shorter
tracks, etudes.\u201d<\/em> There are seven of these Etudes; all the other tracks have names. <\/p>\n

With some exceptions (like T-Bahn), the tracks on this album are beatless soundscapes, and are indeed a combination of darkness and light \u2013 \u201csubtle soundtracks of eclipsed emotions. Like an incapacitated creature waiting for something to happen.\u201d<\/em> <\/p>\n

Sysivalo<\/em><\/strong> once again demonstrates why Mika Vainio<\/em><\/strong> was such a well-respected artist, with his unique capability of combining minimalism, analogue warmth, physicality and electronic harshness into a soundscape that almost feels \u2018natural\u2019.<\/p>\n

The physical edition of Sysivalo<\/em><\/strong> is available as a 2LP+CD set (not available separately). <\/p>\n