It’s starting to become a bit of a tedious cliché to describe all capable Finnish bands as parts of a pagan parade in a forest seemingly more mystical than a single one of us even can dream about. It seems a bit lazy to pigeonhole anyone even remotely connected to this scene as purveyors of forested free-folk-noise jams.

In the case of the densely textured, meandering soundscapes of Uton, snapshots of urban landscapes come to mind as frequently as blurry glimpses of mist-clad forest lakes and steep hillsides all draped in moss-clad rocks. If I’d transfer such a comment into sonic comparisons I’d say it’s a bit like a secret meeting between early Coil and No Neck Blues Band, if that makes any sense. Add to all this something distinctively Finnish and we got ourselves a one man band that possibly is one of the most neglected combos in the sprawling Finnish scene, but also an artist that in terms of mood and tension sounds a whole lot different than the rest of the gang.

Uton, AKA Jani Hirvonen, started doing home recordings in the early ‘00s that further down the line saw the light of the day as Taivaan Joka Kolossa, his debut CD-R for the Finnish Clay label. Due to its limited edition it appeared in another shape a year later, this time on sister label Musically Incorrect Records (MIR). Just like most of the releases on his own, now defunct Haamumaa imprint these items are incredibly difficult to get your hands on these days, so it’s nice to see at least some of them, as well as more recent Uton releases, finding their way to slightly less obscure labels such as Last Visible Dog, Jewelled Antler (the humming, shimmering noise of Ay Um Au Lam is simply fantastic), Finland’s 267 Lattajjaa and Norway’s Gold Soundz.