Nuclear Winter Garden – Nuclear Winter Garden

Next up on My Favorite Robot Records is another fantastic full length project, this time from someone who has done 20 of them in 20 years, namely Jori Hulkkonen in his Nuclear Winter Garden guise.

Over the years, Finnish DJ and producer Jori, also a member of the Sin Cos Tan band, has released on F Communications,  Turbo and of course My Favorite Robot Records and, since 2004, has run an outdoor, intimate party at a 14th Century museum in his hometown. Called Nuclear Winter Garden, the night finds him playing extended sets of jazz, folk, classical, avant-garde and indie sounds a world away from his usual DJ duties. It is those sets that have inspired this new album.

Says the man himself: “The idea is to find a personal edge for the output, rather than paving the way for accessibility. What’s missing from a lot of people’s music these days is the risk taking. And I like taking risks.”

The album opens with sparse atmospherics and a mix of subtle synthesised hooks and organic piano chords. A drifting voice floats in amongst it all and a contemplative mood is set from the off. ‘Some of You Might Survive’ is then a chilly ambient brew of frazzled sines that suddenly flips midway through when emotive chords and one finger synth notes arrive to lighten the mood. 

‘A New Cold War’ keeps up the frosty and autumnal vibes with twinkling keys offset by rasping synths and gentle tumbling percussion. Remaining resolutely horizontal and sparse, ‘Strangest Positions’ features what sound like de-tuned synths and twanging guitars, ‘Baryonic Truth’ marries distant, sketchy drums with swirling pads and ‘Red Magic’, with its lo-fi electronics and obscured, gauzy vocals, references Jori’s pop-act inspirations Connan Mockasin and John Maus.

The last two tracks complete this evocative, enthralling and experimental journey though sound in blissfully soothing style. The influence of Jori’s outdoor party looms large throughout this album, and on it he does a fine job of painting a picture of just what one might sound like.