ALEKSI MYLLYKOSKI – SILENT CHAOS 
I guess Aleksi Myllykoski may not be a familiar name outside Finland… yet. He was featured earlier on Ambientblog with a few impressive releases together with Tapani Rinne, such as Dark Days from 2020.
Myllykoski is also the founder of the Signature Dark label (which is also the title of the third track), specializing in presenting music ‘that encapsulates the qualities of darkness, melancholy, minimalism, and cinematic essence’. And that is a great description of the music on this album. Dark and brooding ambient, or jazz noir if you prefer. More Silent than Chaos, by the way.
The theme of the album is based on ‘the idea of irreversible movement shaping the present moment’.
‘Change eventually occurs forcefully as tension escalates beyond limits. Irreversible transformation takes place, inevitably progressing change creates endless, slowly revealing chaos around us and in our daily lives. Only unpredictable change is permanent.’
Reading this one might expect music to represent that chaos, music with complex structures difficult to comprehend. But almost the opposite is true: most of the music is very calm, and slow. But there is also a gradually intensifying tension, inevitable and irreversible.
Silent Chaos is Myllykoski’s solo album, but he gets some help from Tapani Rinne playing saxophone on two tracks. The Signature Dark track also features Heikki Lindgren playing the jouhikko, a two- or three-stringed instrument from Finland and Karelia. The album is skillfully mastered by Ian Hawgood.
Currently, Silent Chaos is only available as a digital download, but it will also be available on vinyl later (though it is not yet known when that will be).
TOMOSLA – MOOR THOUGHTS
I re-started this album a few times because I thought there was something wrong. It starts with a soft, distorted interference-like noise, which stops after a few seconds, followed by a few seconds of silence, after which the interference sound returns but layered with soft notes from an electric piano or synth.
Intended confusion – great!
Tomosla is the duo formed by James Osland and Thomas Hoey. Moor Thoughts is the result of several improvised sessions recorded on the outskirts of Dartmoor National Park in the southwest of England. This of course means that sounds from the moor are also included: the ‘interference’ slowly merges with the sound of rain.
‘Inspired by time passed and futures unfolding’, this 40-minute soundscape is a pleasurable listen, creating an atmosphere as depicted on the cover.
Moor Thoughts is released by Shimmering Moods Records as a part of their Slow Tone Collage series. It is still available as a digital download, but the CD version is unfortunately already sold out… as can of course be expected with a limited edition of 40.