II by Gnäw

Centripetal Force (North America), Stoned to Death (CZ), Radio Khiyaban (NL), and Ramble Records (Australia) are excited to announce the vinyl edition of Gnäw II, a heady (and heavy, in both the literal and figurative sense) descent into a world of electronic soundscapes and deconstructed traditional Iranian music. Gnäw II is being presented in a 300 copy vinyl pressing and will be released March 7th. It will also be available digitally.

Only 50 copies are available in the US.

Digital downloads available directly from the band at http://gnaew.bandcamp.com

In Gnäw Hakalisto and Ghasemi both play several traditional Finnish and Persian string instruments such as setar, santoor, or kantele. They handle the instruments on their own terms, each constantly finding new ways to interact with them. Hakalisto then feeds this palette with rich sounds from his synthesizer library, including the SOMA Terra, Moog, and a variety of modular systems. Ghasemi’s final touch is the addition of assorted instruments most closely linked with rock music, such as his film-noir and psychedelic rock inspired electric guitar lines and powerfully hypnotic, dub-inflected bass. In live settings he often loops these bass lines, helping to free his hands so that he can focus on another layer of instruments.

Self-taught musician Hakalisto was born and raised in southeastern Finland. Growing up he played violin, but dropped it as a teenager and moved on to a variety of electronic instruments. During his studies in Helsinki he was a frequent contributor to different improv collectives, but when he moved to a new town (Tampere) he suddenly found himself without his usual network of musicians and began to delve into the world of modular synths. As he remarks looking back, “it offered similarly uncertain territory as improvisation with other people.”

Ghasemi comes from Tehran. He grew up amongst his father's vinyl collection and later found further inspiration through his sister's CDr's and cassettes. He got his first guitar at the age of fifteen and quickly fell for its raw and distorted sound. He went on to study technical university in Milano where he played in several psych rock outfits, but things really started to happen when he moved to Prague in 2017. He had already met Hakalisto in Milano, where they had briefly jammed, but they did not expand upon that collaboration and form Gnäw until they had both danced on Czech soil.