Kiri Ra! is the Finnish experimental composer, sound artist, and multi-instrumentalist Lau Nau (aka Laura Naukkarinen), fellow Finnish tenor sax player and multi-instrumentalist Linda Fredriksson, and Swedish pianist, keyboard, and live electronics player Matti Bye. The trio was formed in 2014 when it was commissioned by the Swedish Film Institute to create music for experimental amateur documentary films from its archive. Kiri Ra! released its self-titled debut album in 2021 (Oona Recordings), describing it as «an intuitive journey through landscapes of spectral otherness with colors of post classical minimalism, ambient folk and jazz».

Kiri Ra! describes its follow-up album, nen, as «music (that) does not try to be anything. No pre-determined references… It’s more like a state of mind where we are not trying anything; we just see what happens. We create a moment that is unexpected and doesn’t have any locked direction. We were slow. It took 10 years to combine the right pieces for the album. We were not in a hurry. Keywords: air, space, love, time, rest, electronic, synthetic, organic, warmth, wood».

And, indeed, the music of this trio has an unassuming, relaxed sense of discovery, highlighting a slow and emphatic kind of organically flowing spontaneous improvisations that blur the distinction between post-classical, ambient folk, and spiritual jazz. It offers a safe, caressing sonic haven from daily distressing worries and endless chores. It provides an opportunity to just let go and be free to take in the even softest whisper and the most minute sonic particle to complete a mosaic filled with beauty.

Eyal Hareuveni

Laura Naukkarinen (modular synth, vocals, cello, piano, balafon, glockenspiel, toys), Linda Fredriksson (saxophone, flutes, piano, wurlitzer, toys, balafon, mandolin, synth), Matti Bye (piano, live electronics, synths, balafon, vibraphone, wurlitzer)