Behind the Himukalt nom de guerre, Ester Kärkkäinen – at her recorded initiation – fabricates soundscapes at the verge of uncomfortableness through relatively ordinary means. However, contrarily to the bulk of the “noise” scene this work is wholly deprived of unwarranted bestiality and cheap shock employed to hide a moronic attitude. Here, the agglomeration of materials was made with a compositional frame of mind, the right frequencies placed in the right spots at any given instant.
Kärkkäinen may champion an infected reclusiveness, yet is willing and able to send out sharp messages of determination to survive beyond sufferance and impotent rage. In the finest track on offer – “Without Laughter” – the tension is increased so naturally – smoothly, one would say – that the droning intimidation becomes a nerve-soothing lullaby rather than invoking cerebral dissolution. Elsewhere, as in the subsequent “Tuberculosis”, a stimulating infuse of hammering exactitude and barely repressed anguish is wrapped in biting distortion, whereas in the final “Please Don’t Call For An Ambulance” (aren’t these titles splendid?) we face the end of all chimeras while gradually submerged by unpronounceable grime.
Conditions Of Acrimony has to do with pernicious textures seducing the listeners little by little, inexorably pulling them inside a mental cosmos replete with signals of bitterness, but also reinforcing undertones. More than the usual suspects quoted by the press release, I perceive the attributes of this impressive debut as closer to the cynical mesmerism of artists like Joe Colley and Jason Lescalleet. Spell it “high quality stuff”.
MASSIMO RICCI. TOUCHING EXTREMES. 