HLER: HLER: Cassette Gods Review
Helsiniki-based sound artists Heikki Lindgren and Esa Ruoho perform as HLER, and this sort-of self-titled tape captures a live performance at E:MF 2018 (January), and also at Ampeeriklubi VI, lots of other Finnish text, etc., a month later. Now, I want you to close your eyes, press play, and pretend you’re in a planetarium or a Hadron Collider of some particular size.
Got it? OK.
Lindgren and Ruoho are expert knob-twiddlers, conjuring celestial elements with their bare hands and their synthesizer rigs. Each half-hour track (one on each side) is perfect for the spaceman facing existential danger in all of us. It’s like “HLER” was birthed in a science lab and set free to infiltrate the insecurities in every human, triggering unease wherever it alights. It’s a sinister missive from elsewhere pointed directly at us. Why? From where? Huh?
I don’t know! Stop asking questions. Just … stick your head into “HLER” and listen to it, alright?
--Ryan