Review: Hiljaisus - Tuntematon Tulevaisuus

Artist: Hiljaisus

Album: Tuntematon Tulevaisuus

Label: Humina Records

Release date: April 2025

Among the hundreds of thousands of words that can be used to name a musical project, silence is probably not one of the most obvious candidates. Yet that's exactly what this brand new Finnish artist chose to name his drone act with dark ambient undertones (although, curiously enough, with one u missing, which might be a wordplay in Finnish that I'm not privy to). Having been active only since 2024, Hiljaisus already has several releases out on his Bandcamp, of varying lengths and impossible to neatly categorise into usual formats such as singles/EPs/LPs, but let's say that Tuntematon Tulevaisuus (which roughly translates into An Unknown Future) is the closest thing the project currently has to a full-length album.

Whether you categorise Hiljaisus as drone or dark ambient (and there are good arguments for both), one thing is clear - the artist belongs to a school of minimalism that is almost extinct these days. Compositionally speaking, the music here is a combination of highly analogue drones, metallic echoes, various forms of static, field recordings, and highly processed string instrument sections, united into two monolithic compositions that don't evolve too extensively throughout their mammoth track lengths. Much like the decaying concrete under a pale blue sky showcased on the (phenomenal) album cover, the music gives off a strong atmosphere of what I can best describe as maritime industrialism, so typical of the Nordics, that is somehow neither warm and human nor cold and mechanical (anyone who has experienced summer in a Scandinavian port city will immediately recognise the exact aesthetic I'm referring to here). Both tracks have a delectably hypnotic quality that make them seem much shorter than they really are, managing to maintain their presence without being overwhelming. While the first track can almost be described as comforting, the second one has a much more menacing tone, hinting that the artist may not be too confident about how bright that unknown future he's referring to will really be, particularly when the high-pitched sound vaguely reminiscent of an air raid siren sinks back into darkness and leaves only wave-like pulses in its stead to bring the album to its close.

Optimistic or not, Hiljaisus' brand of drone ambient is a very welcome addition to a somewhat sleepy scene, and it will be most interesting to see if his work and vision will coalesce into a more traditional album format over time. Be that as it may, the artist has clearly shown he knows how to conjure and maintain an atmosphere over 30+ minutes, as well as how to set himself apart both aurally and visually. Keep this one in your sights.

Rating: 8/10