I don’t have an excuse for missing out on Onségen Ensemble‘s early 2016 debut release, Awalaï. I’m sure you heard it, because you’re on your stuff like that. The album was released by Pink Tank Records, who are a label I hear from regularly, and the Finnish psychedelic collective’s work is so much right up my alley that I’m a little sad no one tipped me off between then and now and said, “Uh hey dude you should probably check his stuff out,” because god damn, I wish I had. It’s the kind of thing I might end up closing out a week with just so I can talk about it. Friday Full-Length, and all that.

Anyway, the better news — though I’m not sure finding out about an awesome band counts as “bad news,” even when one factors in the punk rock guilt of not getting in on the ground floor — is that Onségen Ensemble have a second record, titled Duel, coming out this summer. Based in the psychedelic hotbed of Oulu, the band’s own Esa Juujärvi brought the work to my attention by sending the link to the video for the title-track, and maybe it was the resonance of the juxtaposition in the lyrics “We are all in this together/Burn, burn the world” that hit me so hard, or maybe it was just the spaciousness of the whole thing, or the chill of the video, but yeah, if it wasn’t so soothing, I’d say it hit me like a ton of bricks.

So I’m posting the video as advance notice of the album. It’s been out for a few days already, but screw it. I don’t think Onségen Ensemble have a set release date for Duel, but when I hear of one I’ll get it posted accordingly. Now that I have my head out of my ass on the matter (and only on this matter, rest assured), I’ll try not to let any news/updates slip by. Fingers crossed it’s out sooner than later.

Dig the video below, and please enjoy:

Onségen Ensemble, “Duel” official video

DUEL – the second album by Onségen Ensemble out this summer. Check out the title song now!

Onségen Ensemble is a group of musicians from northern Finland. This periodically active ensemble continues Onségen’s musical legacy with a new album which will be released in the summer of 2018. The album contains a multilevel and experimental fusion of postrock, jazz and stoner, mixed with touches of cinematic and flamboyant overtones.

Onségen Ensemble – Duel
1. Think Neither Good Nor Evil
2. Duel
3. Dogma MMXVIII
4. Zodiacal Lights of Onségen
5. Three Calls of the Emperor’s Teacher

Onségen Ensemble is:
Juggis Aalto, Heikki Häkkilä, Esa Juujärvi, Merja Järvelin, Sami Lehtiniemi, Samuli Lindberg, Joni Mäkelä, Jaakko Tuomivaara, Niina Vahtola and Mikko Vuorela.

Onségen Ensemble on Thee Facebooks

Onségen Ensemble on Bandcamp

Onségen Ensemble website

Tags: Duel, Finland, Onségen Ensemble, Onségen Ensemble Duel, Oulu, Unsigned bands

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 10th, 2018 at 5:55 am and is filed under Bootleg Theater. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.