Jaakko Eino Kalevi - Out of Touch

Ah, the effects of the Mediterranean Sea! If you position yourself well and have an open mind, you can easily relieve yourself of all the pressures, particularly information pressures that burden you in the daily grind. It seems that was exactly the idea Jaakko Eino Kalevi, Finnish singer/songwriter, had in mind when he came up with his fifth album Out of Reach, all after a seclusion somewhere on some Greek island. The music he came up with seems to drive the listener exactly in that direction.

Kalevi might not have a big public name but is obviously well known in music circles, since so far he has collaborated with the likes of David Byrne on his recent American Utopia album, and since a few years back he was also a member of the Belgian avant-gardists Aksak Maboul.

I don’t know whether you could call any music on Out of Reach as avant-garde, but it will certainly not drive away any listener who has the aversion to that term and what it signifies. Still, when you try to describe Kalevi’s sound on this album, at first it might sound a bit strange - introspective (as in lo-fi), electronic-driven soul.

Playing every single instrument on the album himself, and self-producing it between his Helsinki and Berlin locations, he is able to transport your to the Mediterranean Sea, your feet in the sea, your head in the shade and lets you recollect your thoughts and recuperate from everything that is bothering you at the time.

Whether it is the opener “China Edie”, “Conceptual Mediterranean (Part 1)”, probably the thematic piece on the album or the title-telling closer “Lullaby”, Kalevi is able to make you forget, at least for a moment, that the sunny weather you are experiencing in Autumn might not be caused by climate change, but is a lucky experience you need to enjoy.

Out of Reach might initially strike you as inconsequential, but Kalevi’s concept and deft musical touch do the trick and you unconsciously keep pressing repeat on this one.