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Avarus
Ruskeatimantti
Tumult Recordings, 2005
by Dr. Christian Carey It's so alliteratively catchy to call Avarus a "Finnish Free Folk" collective, but their latest double album Ruskeatimantti transcends even this categorization. Elements of psychedelic rock, avant jazz, world music, and, yes, folk coalesce into brave and adventurous music. Recorded between 2000 and 2003, most of the pieces here are extended works, gradual in development but brash in sonic impact.
"Horuksen Vasemman Silmän Mysteerikoulu" (ah … to speak Finnish and know what the heck that means…) combines heavy drumming, repeated guitar drones, and spacey flute music into an aggressive yet trippy concoction. "Horuksen Oikean Silmän Mysteerikoulu" is more ethereal in ambience; long, sustained saxophone tones and electroacoustic burbling are shadowed by textural percussion.
Disc two's "Maximum Highway Lifestyle" is most impressive. A six movement suite, it demonstrates the tremendous variety that Avarus can deploy within their deliberately idiosyncratic musical language. Puckish flute duets, swaths of guitar feedback, drones, looped riffs, and energetic, dancing percussion fill this work with strange sounds and delicious juxtapositions. Avarus's music may not be easy to apprehend at first, but its subtleties and intricacies make for engaging and thought-provoking repeated hearings.
-June 18, 2005