Sunburned Hand of the Man has done some interesting collaborations, including one from the same year as this release with
Kieran Hebden (aka
Four Tet). This particular session finds the
Sunburned crew in Finland jamming with that country's best-known and loved practitioners of what the band has called "speed kraut" or "the new wave of Finnish heavy metal," neither of which sums up their sound one iota. Where
Circle always maintain a musical motif in accordance with their band name -- a pulsating, ebbing and flowing circular pattern that always returns and folds in upon itself, eliciting an hypnotic, trance-like state -- the
Sunburned collective are just the opposite: scattershot rhythms and free folk noodling, often resulting in a cacophony of the most sublime sort. Inevitably, the apple falls not far from the tree on this collaboration; mantra-like improvisations held steady by the repetition-loving Finns are elaborated upon by random instrumental flourishes and percussive embellishments by the
Sunburned crew. The tracks' titles are all in Finnish, and favor the signature Motorik groove that would sound like just another
Circle album (they have many, although they remain obscure in most musical circles except to the cognoscenti) if it weren't for the odd left-field banjo twang or trumpet blare as the only indication of the
Sunburned's participation. Yet the final impression the listener is left with is that the pure unbridled freeness of these sessions, with the unique magic of the artists involved enhanced through collaboration, must have been a wonder to behold firsthand.