Utu Lautturi: NIELU - Pre-orders + full previews + reviews + news

[Utu Lautturi]

Greetings!

Pre-orders for my debut album Nielu have opened at Pale Noir: https://palenoir.bandcamp.com/album/nielu

The album will be released January 31st both digitally and as a batch of 100 digipack cds.

There are two full preview tracks available for streaming through SoundCloud showcasing some of the variety and different elements present on the album.

Pelkkää pihkaa - Only Sap
https://soundcloud.com/utu-lautturi/nielu-only-sap-mastered-full-track


Äiti Vuori, Isä Koski - Mother Mountain, Father Stream
https://soundcloud.com/pale-noir/aiti-vuori-isa-koski-mother-mountain-father-stream


Also, the first music video from the album is finished and I'm excited to say it will be premiered at A Closer Listen, along with an interview, review and streaming of the full album!

You can read a very honoring first pre-release review of Nielu from Adornments Of The King: https://adornmentsoftheking.wordpres...autturi-nielu/

About the album
Nielu is a meticulously crafted nine-piece journey through various sonic landscapes ranging from abysmal depths to gleaming peaks. Textural ambience, drones, manipulated field recordings and noise elements are supported by traditional instruments like violin, piano, organs and guitar. Vocals (in Finnish) are sparse but play an important guiding role in some of the main conjunctions of the album. Each track has a distinct story and are all quite different from each other, yet form essential parts of a whole. Diamond and dirt, ice and fire, stone and water all merge to conjure an extremely visual experience. The album is mastered for all kinds of speakers but is definitely best experienced with headphones in an introspective setting.

[Utu Lautturi]

"Many albums claim to be experimental, or distinct, or impossible to classify. Lautturi is humble enough not to make such claims, but he’s the real deal. He clearly follows his own disturbed muse, and seems beholden to no one."

Truly wonderful words from A Closer Listen. On top of an amazingly intricate and evocative review of the album they also premiered the first music video from Nielu as well as published an interview.

Check it out at http://acloserlisten.com/2015/01/26/utu-lautturi-nielu/

Nielu will be released this Saturday in digital form as well as 100 copies digipack cd with full color 4-page booklet.
Pre-orders are open at https://palenoir.bandcamp.com/album/nielu

Stay tuned!

[Ajna-Intrinsik]

Congrats, Utu!!

[blackivan]

well done my friend on some stunning music

IvanB

[Utu Lautturi]

Chris and Ivan, thank you so much! Always appreciate your ear and support!

So, Nielu is now released and you can stream the album from where you can also order the limited digipack cd or download the digital version at http://palenoir.bandcamp.com/album/nielu

Utu Lautturi_Nielu_COVERPIC.jpg

Thanks to all!

[Tuonela]

I am listening to this right now. On good speakers, against your advice (another listen with headphones coming up!). My house is shaking. I think dark shapes are forming outside. Truly magnificent album! :thumbsup:

[Utu Lautturi]

Thank you, Tuonela!! I have very much respect for your ear and commentary. Glad you dig the album.

I've uploaded two more full preview tracks. The first one is a collaboration with Rasplyn. Here's some info and the track.

Teetä maatuneisa lehdistä - Pu-Erh Tea
Last year Rasplyn approached me asking if I'd like to collaborate on a track for her album Scenes Through The Magic Eye. I've always enjoyed Rasplyns mystical Eastern spiritual sound so I gladly obliged. But I also suggested we make a trade, that she would also take part in co-creating a track for Nielu. Pu-Erh Tea is the result.
https://soundcloud.com/utu-lautturi/nielu-teeta-maatuneista-lehdista-pu-erh-tea-feat-rasplyn-full-track-preview


The second new full preview track is the longest on the album. It divides Nielu in half and is very personal to me. Here is the story behind this track.

Odota ja todista - Wait And Witness
This autobiographical story is dedicated to all who suffer or have suffered and overcome mental disorders.

Once upon a time I identified strongly with Slipknot's track "Wait And Bleed". It was a time of terrible emotional distress, psychotic break-downs and mental anguish with no end in sight. I had decided not to end my life so I felt all that was left to do was to wait and bleed (sad to say, quite often literally). I could only hope time would eventually change things, that medication plus therapy plus rest and support from my closest friends would open doors to a life worth living. Then, one day during a session I was talking with my therapist about waiting and bleeding. He said something that stopped my mind in it's self-destructive tracks. He said, how about instead of bleeding you could try to wait and WITNESS. Just stand beside your pain and anguish without acting one way or the other. Just listen closely to what your emotions are telling you about yourself. Cease all mental communication with yourself. Wait and witness.

I had quite a background in yogic mental practices (partially the reason of going "over the edge" in the first place) so witnessing my inner world unfold was something I was well familiar with. But somehow I'd lost contact with those abilities. It's strange how the brain works. Kind of like a house of cards. When one of the base structures fails it all comes tumbling down. True fear - the immediate-fear-for-your-life kind - can be quite overwhelming and I certainly was not able to handle all the pressure that had built up all my life, no matter how I'd trained my mind.

Anyway, I felt like the therapist's idea was worth a shot and started performing a new kind of waiting. Instead of harming myself when a breakdown occurred I would take headphones, put on some harsh noise or deep drones and use the power of sound to keep me still - to hold me witnessing all that was taking place within (very grateful for Dronny Darko, Red Fog, Skullflower, Raven, Antropik, Faces of Bélmez and many others for their amazing sound art that aided me along the way). Now, I know anti-psychotics, SSRI's and different mental medication has it's dark side but I'm one of those stories where they were necessary and worked well. They compressed the spikes in my emotional waveform to a level where I was able to bare with the onslaught and actually, after a few disappointing failures, not harm myself anymore. I don't believe I could've succeeded in my "witnessing" practices without medication. Also, of course I tried self-medicating with different substances but it always made things A LOT worse.

Eventually, by using medication, therapy and music, waiting and witnessing became a sort of self-reflective and healing ritual, and I would stop self-harming all together. I would also start exploring and creating my own sounds and noises to help with this new meditation. The fifth track from Nielu, named accordingly as Wait And Witness is one of the waves I ended up with. This drone is actually one long, live software manipulation session of a pure feedback signal from an echo pedal. In the end the track fades into a manipulated sound of a stream and a song I recorded beside a lake on a summer evening.

Wait And Witness is best experienced with headphones in an introspective setting. I hope this story might share confidence in the possibility of healing to those struggling with mental disorders, and possibly offer a new way to approach the moments where everything is rusty nails, black tar and dripping blood. I do not know what lies beyond the so called end of the tunnel. But I have found there is light in this world. And the light can, at least at times when reflected from loving surfaces of acceptance both within yourself as well as through people who accept you as you are, be you.
https://soundcloud.com/utu-lautturi/nielu-odota-ja-todista-wait-and-witness-full-preview

[Maharg]

Read your story with interest. Powerful and emotional work. Particularly like the last few minutes when the vocals kick in. Great work and look forward to hearing more.