Genre: Trippy, Ambient, Chill
Technical Grade: 6/10
Production/Musicianship Grade: 6/10
Commercial Value: 5/10
Overall Talent Level: 7/10
Songwriting Skills: 5/10
Performance Skill: 6/10
Technical Grade: 6/10
Production/Musicianship Grade: 6/10
Commercial Value: 5/10
Overall Talent Level: 7/10
Songwriting Skills: 5/10
Performance Skill: 6/10
Best Tracks: Comet, Time Swirl
Strengths: Simplistic in style, very atmospheric and relaxing
Weakness: Restricted palette of sounds, no human elements
Final Grade: 99%
Janne Hanhisuanto hails from Finland and although there doesn’t seem to be much information on the internet regarding this artist, his label “Cold Tear” states that he started experimenting with sound somewhere in 1996, and that he plays keyboards, guitars, and wind instruments.
The album starts off with “Intro” and “Kosmonaut” which starts steadily with sequenced trippy cycles of arpeggios, supported by pad string sounds that slowly builds. An overdriven lead guitar is introduced and offers up to the piece before things start to wind down. The vibe here is extremely floaty and relaxing. The third track “Time Swirl” introduces a rhythm track with synthesized bass and drums over which a pan-pipe sound plays out a simple but catchy melody before it morphs into an electronic piano. The structure here is again cyclic and Janne obviously likes to construct his compositions around carefully worked out moving patterns. The fourth track “Comet” features a futuristic space-violin sound drenched in reverb amongst many other features. There are some beautiful melodies in this piece and the whole track is very emotive – in a slightly melancholic mood. Lovely.
Overall I really enjoyed this CD – Janne has a very defined style and whilst he has somewhat limited his palette of sounds, there is character to each of his tunes. I would have liked to have heard some more human elements, either with an ambient (maybe even non-lexical) vocal or using human samples or dialogue to make the compositions feel less mechanical. The theme is very strong throughout and whilst there are no lyrics/vocals, the melodic messages conveyed work well with the given titles.
If ambient, trippy and thoroughly atmospheric instrumentals are your thang, then you seriously need to check out Janne Hanhisuanto.
Neil Thomas (UK
Edited by Scottie Carlito
