Tuusanuuskat: Nääksää Nää Mun Kyyneleet

This is a strange thing to say about a Fonal album, especially one that comes from the label’s founder — on Nääksää Nää Mun Kyyneleet he collaborates with another man, an artist, and when he’s working solo he uses the nom de plume Es — but it’s actually soothing. The sound-palatte is big but not huge, and it doesn’t jazz around as much as, for instance, one of those Es solo albums. There’s a rumble like thunder, and a gleam like wittering needles, and the storm boils to a climax in “Tippa 3”, which is the third track, and then the needles fly through space in “Tippa 4”, which you can figure out for yourself. The presence of the needles steals the storm’s threat — how can it frighten you when it has these fireflies making fun of it? So you’re not being asked to commit yourself to the terror of one sound or the glitter of the other, you’re only being asked to listen.