Siinai - Sykli album review

Sykli (Cycle in English), the third album from young Finnish team Siinai, is a brilliant example of what happens when a band go in search of not so much the lost chord as the perfect frequency. All five tracks are quite different from one another, yet each achieves a state of mesmeric immersion that’s comparable to the best ambient or minimal electronica. They never induce mere passivity in the listener – rather, they create a sense of active surrender. Temppeli starts with a celestial synth loop before a vast chord sequence gradually obliterates it, suggesting unfathomable beauty and terror. Mestari is chillier, a starker synth motif against hand drums and snakecharmer flute. It’s the ideal soundbed to the mysterious monotony of driving at night, channelling the mundane and the miraculous. The echoplexed guitar figures of Sykli build towards a joyous, sun-dappled crescendo as the pulsing, monolithic rhythmscape of Ananda epitomises Siinai’s talent for keeping things simple yet compelling. Finally, the squalling drone of Europa comes into motorik-driven focus like a missing track from Neu! ’75. Like the best post-rock, Sykli isn’t empty mood music. It has real heart and soul