Trio Peltomaa Fraanje Perkola is back with a new album, returning with their unique sonic world. Aino Peltomaa (vocals and medieval harp), Harmen Fraanje (piano and synthesizer), and Mikko Perkola (viola da gamba and electronics) captured many hearts with their distinctive sound palette on their successful debut album ÆR Now they're back with a second album called Komorebi.
The word Komorebi is Japanese and doesn't really have a Dutch translation. But if we break down the three words — ko (tree), more (leak or seep), and bi (sun) — it takes on the meaning of sunlight filtering through the trees. A beloved motif in Japanese poetry. The Japanese title creates the impression that you might expect Japanese musical influences. Yet this is not the case. Misleading? Literally perhaps, but conceptually it aligns with this distinctive sound cloud.
Where ÆR was a contemporary interpretation of 13th-century pilgrimage songs, Hildegard von Bingen with Pérotin and Gregorian chants, Komorebi delves once again into medieval songs but this time blended with Finnish folk music. While their source of inspiration has a different flavor, the sonic result is unmistakably recognizable as Trio Peltomaa Fraanje Perkola.
If you shuffle the two albums together, you can't possibly tell them apart. Only after listening to each album separately multiple times do you eventually figure out which track belongs to which album. Komorebi doesn't showcase another side of the trio to put their versatility in the spotlight. Rather, it's a subtle continuation of ÆR. No attention-seeking virtuosity, but intimate sounds with refined expressiveness.
The music has a transcendent and serene quality to it. It's absolutely not background music. The beauty truly comes into its own when you let yourself drift completely with the cadence's flow. As if the music embraces you—shielded from the hyperactive outside world, you find peace. Just as Japanese poetry distills the serene forest scene, Trio Peltomaa Fraanje Perkola delivers a musical translation of sunlight caressing leaves.
