B A R L A S T
"Proportionality in harmony and disharmony, density and scarcity, loudness and silence is the key to the alchemy of Barlast’s sound." - Balazs Weyer / Finnish Music Quarterly "The Finnish quartet’s new album Musik för scener is a spectral wonder." - Bill Brownlee / There stands the glass
Photo by Ruusa Johansson.
Barlast creates spacious new music with a silence echoing in the background.
The silence can be heard between the notes. Everything unnecessary is stripped away.
Only the name remains as ballast.
From the soothing sound of a telecaster to the calling of the herder instrument mänkeri, from the rumble of a frame drum to a free double bass solo. The aural visions range from 18th century dances to heavy breathing in hazmat suits.
The quartet was formed in Helsinki in 2016 and has since performed in Finland, Estonia, Norway, Hungary and Japan (live stream). Barlast has released four albums: Musik för scener (2022), Live and Electric (2021), Svanvik (2019) and Ihantola (2017). Barlast has been said to "play their ethereal and expressive music so magnificently that the in principle challenging fusion of folk music, jazz and improvisation captures the listener" (Onni Rajaniemi, Kansanmusiikki magazine 2/2019).
Philip Holm - double bass
Heikki Hänninen - guitars
Minna Koskenlahti - percussion and flutes
Santte Salonen - woodwinds
