For those unfamiliar with Jaakko Eino Kalevi, the Finnish national treasure makes trippy, off-kilter synth-pop in the vein of Ariel Pink and Connan Mockasin. Embracing a shy but endearing sense weirdness, his music often meanders the empty edges of a half-empty, only busting a move when he thinks no one’s watching.
Just a year after releasing his 2018 full-length, ‘Out of Touch’, Jaakko is back with a new mini-album titled ‘Dissolution’, and it’s his funkiest work to date.
Looser, less-refined and even more spacey than his earlier material, the seven-track affair might also be the most fun and confident release he’s ever shared.
On the title track he switches to his mother tongue while Taiwanese singer Yu-Ching Huan responds in broken English, and you get the sense that Jaakko no longer minds if you watch him go tear up the dance floor.
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Ryan is a writer, editor and vinyl collector currently based in Los Angeles. He started Mini Music Critic in 2017.