Scapes I

Scapes I

Aki Himanen and Aleksi Kinnunen are Finnish musicians who both have a strong background in jazz and electronic music. Their debut album Scapes I is a fresh and dark combination of these two genres in which theyʼve been exploring opportunities for collective improvisation with machines.

The basic idea of the album was to create something new out of generative music techniques in a way that musicians and machines can improvise and interact together as equally as possible. Throughout the album, the machines have been programmed not only to take impulses from the trumpet and drums, but also to give their own suggestions to the musicians.

The result of this combination is a moody, dark, futuristic, unpredictable and organic record which is full of cinematic soundscapes. All the tracks are almost like movie scenes from the Scandinavian landscapes. Together all the synthesizers, drum machines, lyrical trumpet melodies and organic jazzy beats form a very hypnotic blend full of mental images. Thereʼs also saxophonist Tapani Rinne featuring in one track.