Jori Hulkkonen – Dualizm

Jori Hulkkonen continues his techno pulsations on DUALIZM, though with some definite changes in mood. The chords on "Science," for instance, conjure up classic Chicago house, even if the track itself is more soulful and sedate, despite the later intrusion of some acid laser blasts. The stately build of strings and horns on "Some Distant Memory" gives way to the jazzy "Styrkkarit Laukee Taas." But the beats finally kick in with "Dislocated," bringing us back to familiar tech-house territory with a mysterious touch, and "Lo-Fiction" and "Dying In Beauty" have a clear retro-80s sound. "The Baxter Sequence" tosses in some live drumming for an angular funk, and the gentle guitar and horns of "Blinded By The Numbers" take the album out on a more thoughtful note with vocals from José Gonzáles. It's great to hear Hulkkonen explore these facets of himself.

I have a bit mixed feelings about this album. It's as great as any other one Jori Hulkkonen has made, but somehow it has a very different feeling from the previous ones. To some extent it at first sounded hardly recognisable as his work, even, but with more concentrated listening the elements which make Hulkkonen's music so peculiar to him can still be heard.

There has always been a some kind of connection to the 80's in Jori's releases, but on this album it's more evident than ever before. A reminiscence of many bands from that era such as New Order or even The Smiths is clear. On the other hand the sounds are at the same time very modern, although I still wouldn't describe them as trendy despite of the Electro-influences on some tracks. There are quite a few more pop-oriented tunes (at least for the song structure), and also the vocals now have a bigger role than on the previous albums. However, there are also slower and more minimal instrumental tracks that could even be described as experimental, such as "Some Distant Memory" (that partly very much resembles the last track on the Matthew Herbert Big Band album released two years ago, I think). "The Baxter Sequence", on the other hand is a bit Fusion Jazz flavoured, and the keyboard solos on it, as well as the piano on two other tracks also show Jori's development as an instrumentalist (or possibly I've only got that impression because those instruments are now more visible in the music).

On most tracks the atmosphere is quite dark, but nevertheless not cold. And still, typical of Jori Hulkkonen, some tracks such as "Styrkkarit Laukee Taas" or "Science" with the slow acid-sounds in the end of it, have more humorous elements in them. The last track features the Folk Rock singer/songwriter José González (whose "Crosses" Hulkkonen remixed last year) on the vocals, a flugelhorn played by Pekka Tuppurainen, and still successfully combines Detroity sounds to the middle part of it, Jori Hulkkonen himself playing the acoustic guitar in the beginning and end of the track. This is probably the best song on the album, and José González's voice fits more than perfect on it. By finishing the album, the track also leaves the listener in a pensive state of mind.

In spite of all the different styles etc. the album is rather a coherent one. There has been a vinyl-version released as well with a slightly different tracklisting, but I think the tracks are more loosely bind together on it, or don't form an entirety the same way as on the CD (having heard this before the vinyl I might be a bit biased, though). What I missed on the CD were maybe more Deep House or Tech House styled tracks, which the vinyl covers better. Also some tracks more typical of Jori Hulkkonen's sound, such as "Pajatso" are featured there, which is great. Unfortunately the alternative version of "Blinded By The Numbers" doesn't in my opinion achieve the same atmosphere as the original, but still works pretty good as it is, too.

I've always loved the artwork of Jori Hulkkonen's records (and I think it's always respectable if the artist has also done that part mostly by himself), so neither does this album represent an exception: with it comes a set of 11 orthostereographic photos which can be viewed as 3D. A nice idea and definitely something special in addition to musical content of an album.