Juxtaposing the sonic tantrums, вЂњMir InoiвЂќ is a mellow hum of jazz. As the jam enters its fifth minute, I want to dissolve into a cascade of neon purples and pinks, I want to devour chlorophyll and radiate asteroids of seafoam. вЂњAltaГЈr DescendsвЂќ is haunting and beautiful and makes me opine the fact that I, like every other organism, am bound to biological and physical constraints and I have to go to work so that I can rent the place where I sleep and the food I need to sustain myself so I can sleep and go to work and repeat the cycle again and again. вЂњWelcome Blue ValkryieвЂќ is an enormous storm of shoegaze guitars and vocals that gorgeously drown beneath the fuzz. This will be the last time Polysomn allows us to experience our terrestrial reality. Soon, however, the earthly textures evaporate into galactic distortion, taking us from our yard work to snowy mountainous peaks and up to the cosmos. The record begins with clean dad-rock guitar riffs on вЂњPsionic Static,вЂќ which are ripe for the innocent necessity of weekend yard-work. Kairon IRSE!вЂ™s Polysomn is a romp of psychedelic adventuring and as novel as a bag of ketchup-flavored potato chips from Canada or a hedgehog cafe. You turn it all down because your calling is to create wildly esoteric, multilayered worlds. The one with the grandiose holiday party where Bon Jovi and Sir Mix-A-Lot perform songs that everyone knows. Kairon IRSE! makes the kind of art that generally doesnвЂ™t exist in America, at least not organically or without societal pushback and parents whose faces sink as you declare that youвЂ™ve turned down the job offer at the office, the one that they pulled so many strings to land you, where you might one day get a corner office and stock options. This is why, at least in this harsh moment, FinlandвЂ™s Kairon IRSE! is but a chimera to so many. However, that robust and egalitarian vitality is surely a byproduct of a deeply-rooted ideology that allows its populace to imagine extensively and wildly and to not fear such an ascent onto the astral plane, because should the ethereal sojourn end abruptly or without fruitful return, the material conditions that are inherently necessary to forging on-healthcare, education, sustenance-are promised to all, serving as a bulwark to nagging pragmatism. IвЂ™m not even talking about the regionвЂ™s laudable high quality of life, where arts are well-funded and teachers are compensated handsomely.

Scandinavia can seem like an exotic place from this side of the world, and not just because it has the expansive arctic terrain of Lapland or because mysticism involving elves and sacred bears is an ever present part of a society, which is also bursting with modernity. ItвЂ™s a whimsical trip but I am left melancholic as the album ends because I know I canвЂ™t exist in its world.

Listening to Polysomn is as enchanting as it is heartbreaking.

Kairon irse