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Review & Video Premiere: Kimi Kärki, Eye for an Eye

kimi karki eye for an eye

Kimi Kärki, “Entangled in Pleasure” official video

[Click play above to view the new video for Kimi Kärki’s ‘Entangled in Pleasure.’ His album, Eye for an Eye, is out Aug. 18 via Svart Records.]

The second solo album from Kimi Kärki, Eye for an Eye, is abidingly sad — make no mistake — but ultimately it is defined by more than just its melancholy. Released through Svart Records, which also stood behind the Finland-based former Reverend Bizarre and current Lord Vicar (see also: Orne, E-Musikgruppe Lux Ohr, Uhrijuhla, etc.) guitarist’s 2013 debut, The Bone of My Bones (review here), the also-cyclically-titled outing shares in common with its predecessor its heartfelt and folkish delivery, but steps further into an intimacy of songwriting and seems to bask in minimalism even as it expands Kärki‘s use of harmonized vocal arrangements, echoing spaciousness and synth on works like the centerpiece “Good Things in Life” and its finale.

A guest appearance on fourth track “Beyond Distance” from Patrick Walker of Warning and 40 Watt Sun has me keeping my fingers crossed he and Kärki will collaborate again in the future — say, in a band together — and one late from labelmate singer-songwriter John Richardson on “Spearhead” does well to change up the proceedings leading into the closing duo of “The River of Shadows” and “The Last Wave.” Both of those songs depart the four-to-five-minute range to which the rest of Eye for an Eye‘s cuts hold, running six and nine minutes, respectively, but in its prevailing impression, the nine-song/47-minute offering is more about the atmosphere it creates through its plucked nylon guitar and soothing melodies than it is about individual runtimes.

Listening to opener “Entangled in Pleasure” or “The Load We Carry,” one might be tempted to call Eye for an Eye depressive, but to hear the flourish of e-bow in the latter track there, the subtle but transcendent use of keyboards throughout and the world of harmonies that guest vocalists Anna-Elena Pääkkölä and Pirita Känkänen open up alongside Kärki in those songs as well as “Augurs of Winter,” “The River of Shadows” and “Lustful, Wrathful, Sullen” — the last of which casts a serene feel despite the severity of lines like, “When the darkness comes I have no other way but to burden you with the fire that builds within my soul” — lands in a place of emotional affirmation rather than one of just being a downer. Less a conversation with the audience than a showcase of skillful craft, Kärki‘s sophomore full-length builds outward from a central loneliness so that no matter how lush its arrangements get — and by the time “The Last Wave” shifts into the wash of melodic synth that rounds out the last few minutes with a markedly progressive cosmic swirl, the arrangement has gotten plenty lush — a human core is maintained. Part of that might stem from the manner in which Kärki‘s guitar seems to remain at the heart of Eye for an Eye no matter where it goes.

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It is the first thing we hear on “Entangled in Pleasure” before the softly-delivered vocals begin their initial verse, and it continues to define the root of “Augurs of Winter” and “Lustful, Wrathful, Sullen” — the latter with percussive nuance behind a line that recalls Zeppelin and comes accompanied by choral singing — before “Beyond Distance” brings more actively plucked strings and the already-noted appearance from Walker, who proves instantly recognizable on the basis of his voice alone. As much of Walker‘s work resides in a similar place of drawing hope from resonant, meditative emotional darkness — and one has to wonder if the title “Beyond Distance” isn’t a nod to Warning‘s 2006 masterwork, Watching from a Distance — he fits the song remarkably well, and Kärki steps back to give him the fore as a singer, much as one might wish for some direct vocal interplay. Seems fan-biased to say “fingers crossed for next time,” but there’s a clear chemistry and stylistic cohesion between the two players that easily warrants further exploration.

“Beyond Distance” may be an outward highlight, but it’s not the ultimate achievement of Eye for an Eye. The pairing of the whisper-inclusive “Good Things in Life” (which presumably ends side A of the vinyl release) and “The Load We Carry” strips the album down to the bone of its bones before prefacing the landscape that will unfold across “The River of Shadows” and “The Last Wave,” marking a place with the punctuating thud of what might be Eye for an Eye‘s first actual drumming, which arrives no less patient, methodical or unhurried than anything in its surroundings. Interestingly, as Richardson emerges on “Spearhead,” he does so over a more active guitar line not entirely dissimilar in structure from that of “Beyond Distance” — as though Kärki is laying out a carpet of melody for these distinguished visitors — and Kärki does join his fellow Turku native in harmony later in the song, though it seems to be doubled layers of Richardson alone that create the standout moment of the song in its final verse circa the 3:15 mark, leading the way into the keyboard opening, volume swells and ambient vocals that begin “The River of Shadows.”

Though its title implies something of a threat — or maybe it’s meant as a simple reference to the notion of reprisal, being the second full-length and all — Eye for an Eye is not mired by any kind of violence. Especially as it enters its final movement, it is instead a rich and affecting journey led by the assured guidance of Kärki‘s songwriting, and while “The River of Shadows” and “The Last Wave” push beyond the solitude envisioned throughout “Entangled in Pleasure” or “Augurs of Winter” (on which Kärki never seems to actually be alone) proffered, that assurance is unwavering. “The River of Shadows” picks up late with a more forceful strum and tambourine and percussion to end with the words “…mournful cries” before a foreboding low-end rumble and sample start “The Last Wave.” Kärki‘s finish follows suit shortly before five minutes in, but turns instead to its backing harmonies and synthesized atmospherics to lead the way to Eye for an Eye‘s last moments, ending as purposefully with keys as it began with guitar as the different sides draw together into one gorgeous, cohesive and resounding entirety.

As an answer to the aesthetic promise of The Bone of My BonesEye for an Eye gracefully succeeds in setting forth on a development across multiple avenues of composition and execution. One only hopes that Kärki, always busy in a range of projects, will keep moving ahead with the raw honesty of his solo work that seems to tie them all together.

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