Description
After stints in afro pop, pianist Kari Ikonen's Finnish background has now drawn him to the wintertime. Spaces of biting cold and horror, of inhumanity and transience - these are the fundamentals of the Ikonen Trio's third studio album.
The band visit ghost towns, disassemble famous waltz motives and enter wondrous shadow world. Into their fifth year, the depth of the trio's commitment to extremes remains remarkable. Kari Ikonen is not afraid of the light. His 'ultra-positive' afro-pop-jazz project Trio Toffa is living proof of that. Lately, however, his Finnish background seems to have drawn him the darker moods of the soul. 'Wind Frost & Radiation' is a search for his roots, a quest for the Nordic qualities in music.
The contrast with the sensual late-night-jazz of predecessor 'Beauteous Tales and Offbeat Stories' could hardly be more obvious. And yet, experiments have always come natural to this band and its members. Olli Rantala is equally capable of creating danceable grooves in one moment and making his bass sing like a cello in the next. Markku Ounaskari is as adept at laying down a ferocious swing as he is at breaking his percussive patterns apart into insular dots. And Ikonen himself has just hit his creative peak with his eccentric project Ikonostasis. Clearly, these musicians would find it hard to record a single unoriginal note!
