Lapplander - Cinemascope

Lappländer is an ambient/electronica project from Helsinki, Finland which was formed by Janne Lappalainen and Antti Hermaja, and I think that this is their fourth album (but don’t quote me). Janne Lappalainen has performed music alone and with different groups since the early 80’s with his focus shifting more and more towards synth-based ambient and electronica in the late 90’s and early 00’s, composing music for art exhibitions and video works, for instance. Antti Hermaja is a multi-instrumentalist who has played in various reggae-jazz groups and has also played the trombone in a classical orchestra. What we have here is eight tracks of atmospheric instrumental landscapes and synth-based ambient sounds. Yep, it’s New Age guys. But, I have to say that the keyboards sound really dated, andn that combined with a delicacy of touch has led me to enjoy this much more than I would care to admit. Yes, it is background music for the most part, but it would work well as a backdrop to an art installation, and if you wanted something gentle to just drift away to. It isn’t a musical area that I know much about, but this certainly shouldn’t be dismissed out of hand.