Paavoharju’s last album, "Yha Hamaraa," was a bestseller here at OM and after hearing "Laulu Laakson Kukista" there’s no doubt it will follow suit. The Finnish band exist on an entirely different plane, seemingly possessed by forest spirits and psychedelic ghosts. The sound shifts seamlessly from organic folk lullabies to radio static, via exotic electronic rhythms and swirling psych, playing like Cocteau Twins, Sun City Girls, and Vashti Bunyan all at once.

Paavoharju's Yha Hamaraa was a staff and customer favorite a few years back, no doubt due to the group's mysterious lo-fi fusion of sounds, their exotic pop melodies frequently teetering in the mix until finally dissolving into otherworldly hiss. Like its predecessor, the Finnish collective's new album plays like the radio during a late night car ride across the middle of nowhere, where songs never have a proper beginning or end as faint transmissions from far away broadcasts morph into each other and are bathed in shimmering static. But Laulu Laakson Kukista is far from a retread, possessing a much darker feel and a more fleshed-out and varied sound. "Pimeankarkelo" opens the album with ethereal guitar plucks and distant spoken word that ebb and flow around waves of pipe organ and Leena Uotila's angelic, operatic melody -- it's all at once spookily psychedelic and church-like. (Paavoharju are reportedly born again Christians, although I suspect that their faith is much more communal and inclusive, say more like a 21st century Nordic Trees Community, than your typical American denomination.)

"Kevatrumpu" finds the band approximating dance music, as a rapid rhythm of dissonant bells and Uotila's exotic voice float above a low synthesizer pulse and clattering percussion, the song fading in and out of white noise. Another highlight, "Uskallan" (originally released as a limited single on Type) is one of Paavoharju's poppiest moments to date, but the interwoven Bollywood-inspired melodies and the see-saw dynamics still play out like a song you'd hear on a Sublime Frequencies compilation. In contrast, "Tuoksu tarttuu meihin" and "Ursulan uni" find the band at their most ethereal, warping classical based piano arrangements around haunting, outdoor ambience and light twinkling electronics. The overall aesthetic of Laulu Laakson Kukista really does remind me of a record that 4AD would have released during their era of This Mortal Coil, Dead Can Dance and Cocteau Twins, but replace the cold war, post-modern cues of those bands with a mysterious blend of folk, pop and Middle and Far Eastern sounds. Guided by forest spirits and psychedelic ghosts, Paavoharju's music remains breathlessly indescribable. [GH] (May 21, 2008)