Hannu Karjalainen’s new LP Railo is the third album to be released on the Signature Dark label, first digitally and later on vinyl. The album features seven electroacoustic ambient soundscapes. 

The tracks were composed during the winter months in Helsinki, Finland in 2019-2021. Railo (finnish for “a crack in the ice” or “crevasse”) can be seen as on ode to winter, the richness of the seasons and different weather conditions which have been an inspiration to Karjalainen’s work. 
The arc of the album follows seasons from autumn to spring, starting from cold autumn winds (Viima) and ending to the melting of the ice (Sula). Different winter phenomena are explored on the way, including ”Routa” (finnish for “ground frost”), ”Kuura” (rime) and ”Kelirikko” (a term known especially in the archipelago meaning a time at the end of winter when the frozen sea does not support transportation anymore but boat traffic is neither possible). Yet, the album is being suffused with a sadness stemming from the threatening permanent changes in the diversity and balance of nature trough the climate change caused by us. 

”Railo” is an audiovisual project which also contains two video art works to be released online, ”Railo” and “Musta Jää”. The video of ”Railo” depicts a constantly mutating snowy landscape while the crackles and rumbles on soundtrack take us seemingly inside the ice. 

Hannu Karjalainen is an internationally acclaimed electronic musician, video artist and photographer based in Helsinki, Finland. His albums have been released on international record labels since 2007, lately on the renowned German label Karaoke Kalk. Domestically Karjalainen is known as the recipient of Young Artist of the Year (in 2009), one of Finland’s biggest art awards. His video art works and photographs have been exhibited in New York, Berlin, Zürich, Paris and Helsinki, among other places.