Finnish composer Sasu Ripatti made the album Tummaa while living on a remote island in the Arctic Circle during Finland’s "kaamos" season, when there are only a few hours of light a day. “Tummaa means dark or darkness, which reflects the music on the album,” he says.
Part of this track’s darkness is born of confusion: “Toive” sounds electronic, but it isn’t. Tummaa features Ripatti on percussion, Agentina’s Lucio Capece on clarinet and saxophone, and Scotland’s soundtrack composer Craig Armstrong on piano and Rhodes. This particular track is a melding of percussion, Rhodes and creepy feedback.
In keeping with this disorienting effect, directors Carolina Melis (who has directed videos for other Leaf Label artists including Efterklang and Colleen) and Lorenzo Sportiello fuse natural and artificial elements. The music starts off tinkling and repetitive to build into an ominous hammering, with neon lights cutting through crystals, beads, eggs, stones, shards of glass, pyramids and the like. Forming the central motif, snowballs and icicles move backward from fractured to whole form, and it’s somehow terrifying. Trick or treat.










Cool video.