Emmi Kuittinen

Can music engender sorrow or comfort? Is there (a) space for grief? Emmi Kuittinen, who delves into the world of traditional laments and folk poetry for inspiration, and musician/scholar Astrid Swan, who studies grief as a personal and a transgenerational phenomenon, make music out of grief that is not as sad as one might expect.

"Also the real thing is included, with Kuittinen sometimes letting her voice go all rough and raw, affected by grief. Her voice does not always sound beautiful, but that surely feels like a welcome experience when surrounded by the slick music production sound of the 2020s."

"Improvisations and more dynamic pieces build up into a disc that is heartache-inducing and challenging"

The nature of folk music has always included the shameless borrowing of refreshing material from elsewhere – right now Baltic Finnish influences are rising to the top in Finland.