Jaakko Eino Kalevi is proud to announce details of his new self-titled album, due for release 15 June 2015, and his first full-length album for Weird World. The ten-track collection finds Jaakko on spellbinding form, composing sumptuous and wildly original music that teems with ideas and more than delivers on the promise of its predecessor, the breakthrough 2013 EP Dreamzone. Jaakko Eino Kalevi marks the start of a striking new chapter for the Berlin-based artist – a former tram driver in Helsinki – who’s already made quite an impression on the international stage these past 12 months.
From the alluring opener ‘J.E.K.’ to ravishing finale ‘Ikuinen Purkautumaton Jännite’ (loosely, ‘Eternal Ejected Voltage’), this is a richly immersive and hyper-vivid record that sparkles with modern pop gems like ‘Double Talk’, shared today, and ‘Deeper Shadows’. Throughout, Jaakko cuts a cool, Zen-like figure – a street-smart sage who sings in English but expresses his most intimate thoughts in Finnish.
On the strength of ‘Dreamzone’ tracks like ‘No End’ and ‘Memories’, Jaakko spent 2014 playing shows and festivals across the UK, Europe and Japan, bringing his unique vision to life. In the summer of 2014, he released the ‘Yin Yang Theatre’ EP, a bohemian disco six-tracker for New York DJ Tim Sweeney’s Beats In Space label, which demonstrated just how diverse and enticing he is.
In the periods between shows, Jaakko would work on the album in various studios in his native Helsinki, where he’d write, play, record and sing almost everything himself. Suad Khalifa, who sang ‘No End’, sings with Jaakko on ‘Double Talk’, ‘Deeper Shadows’, ‘Room’ and ‘Hush Down’, while the voice of Sonja Immonen graces the truly epic ‘Ikuinen Purkautumaton Jännite’. Jorja Renn – who often performs live with Jaakko as well as for a certain Bryan Ferry – plays saxophone on that track as well as on ‘Say’ and ‘J.E.K.’.
The album was already recorded by the time Jaakko relocated to Berlin last summer, and so later in the year he escaped to New York to mix the record with Nicolas Vernhes, the man with the Midas touch whose recent credits include The War On Drugs and Run The Jewels.
Jaakko Eino Kalevi is the most vivid portrayal yet of Jaakko’s sensual world – a Technicolor and wondrous place where everything happens in its own time, and where nature and technology get along harmoniously.
1. J.E.K.
2. Double Talk
3. Deeper Shadows
4. Say
5. Mind Like Muscle
6. Night At The Field
7. Don’t Ask Me Why
8. Room
9. Hush Down
10. Ikuinen Purkautumaton Jännite
Jaakko Eino Kalevi is out digitally and on CD, LP and deluxe LP on June 15th 2015. Pre-order from iTunes or Weird World.
Jaakko and his band will also be on tour throughout Europe this spring and summer.
Full dates:
June
4th June – Urban Spree, Berlin, Germany (tickets)
6th June – Plissken Festival, Athens, Greece (tickets)
9th June – Babel, Malmo, Sweden (tickets)
10th June – Lilla Hotellbaren, Stockholm, Sweden (tickets)
11th June – SubScene, Oslo, Norway (tickets)
13th June – Sideways Festival, Helsinki, Finland (tickets)
17th June – L’Espace B, Paris, France (tickets)
18th June – OT301, Amsterdam, Netherlands (tickets)
19th June – Courtyard Theatre, London, UK (album launch show) (tickets)
23rd June – Green Door Store, Brighton, UK (tickets)
July
3rd July – MoxxoM Open Air, Gorlitz, Germany (tickets)
4th July – Pact Zollverein, Essen, Germany (tickets)
11th July – Festival de la Cite, Lausanne, Switzerland (tickets)