Imaginature however is a mature, wise and extremely well considered attempt at allowing Heidi herself flex her muscles through the quirks, scope and imagination of her alter ego, and it’s a meeting of minds that appears to work very well on the whole, and makes for a unique album that will certainly grow on you like moss.
It’s been a quiet few years from Björk’s favourite Finnish Electro-pop export, HK119. Last gracing us with new material in 2008 with her sophomore album of brilliantly bonkers, lost electro pop gems (Fast, Cheap and Out of Control), and its beautifully wild 2010 Electronica remix counterpart (Fast And Cheap Mixes), the multimedia artist also known as Heidi Kilpeläinen has otherwise kept a virtually silent profile. So you would be forgiven if her name had perhaps slipped your mind.
For those yet to be acquainted with the highly conceptual world of Kilpelainen’s “character,” over the course of just her first two albums the multimedia package that is HK119 went from a monochromatic alien vixen-bitch in a catsuit, ranting myopically over brittle DIY electro ditties about radiation, electricity and cannibalism (2006’s eponymous debut), to a more down to earth, sportswear clad narrator on modern societies consumer habits through glossier, diverse pop (by the time of Fast, Cheap and Out of Control). While that could all sound a bit too “conceptual” for your average pop consumer, Heidi’s knack for successfully being able to stick her tongue in the cheek of high-concept art has proved to be her most enduring asset, and one that fans of pop, electronic music, the conceptual and the avant garde can all appreciate. So another dramatic left turn was perhaps inevitable by the time of album number three.
Since November 2012 Heidi has performed a series of small London shows to test drive her new collection on unsuspecting audiences. With stages covered in plants, vines, leaves and shrubs, Heidi adorned in floral-printed boiler suits and even a giant Iceberg costume (of course), if the visuals alone didn’t obviously shout that nature is now Heidi’s main target, her first full live band line-up and richer organic sound certainly would have.
Inspired by the sounds of nature, her first experiments on piano, and the traveling Heidi did around Brazil and South America in the last few years, new album Imaginature does exactly what it says on the tin by getting its hands dirty and going for a barefoot walk around the natural landscapes of the world through a more poetic, whimsical and loving ode to where we actually came from. In a logical move, for the bulk of Imaginature Heidi has teamed up with the Swedish producer behind much of The Knife and Fever Ray’s quintessential Scandinavian sound, Cristoffer Berg, who has taken Heidi’s richer concepts and structures and fleshed out an 11 track world of its very own.
Album opener “Wild Grass” kicks things off on a rather epic note. At a demanding seven minutes, the track opens with distant horns announcing HK’s arrival, before venturing down at least three different electric/synth-soaked avenues and refuses to sit still as Heidi’s powerful vocals weave in and out accordingly. Second track and delicious lead single “Snowblind” is a more straight forward example of the richness within Imaginature following its rather grand opening. A frosted and steady tapestry of drum beats and synths plod along with a toe-tapping and organic charm, tying in nicely with a nifty chorus or two around some mildly cryptic lyrics.
“Hide” opts for a similar approach, but with a slightly darker and distant atmosphere before a rather power-ballad take on Heidi’s knack for a good chorus. Distant pianos and accordions are a nice touch, but the surprise sax solo ending takes a little digesting and may leave you on the fence a tad. Fortunately, “Milky Way” follows swiftly with it’s bubbly bounce, charm and bizarre passingly resemblance to Musical Youth’s “Pass The Dutchie.” There’s definitely a light reggae twang going on, but yet still quintessentially Scandinavian in essence. How the hell that happened, we might never know. But it’s a surprisingly brilliant moment, made even more charismatic when the buzzing of a Bee helps close the tracks over some delicate chimes.
Taking the production reigns for one track, renown film composer & producer Mark ‘Dog’ Sayfritz takes Heidi back to a familiar sound of HK’s prior incarnations with a good old slice of electo-pop on next single “Iceberg,” as Heidi states “Instead of falling into you, I’m falling into the sea” (expect a direct demonstration of this transition should you catch her live any time soon). While “Moss” and the fun romp of “Rain” follow the examples of “Milky Way” and “Iceberg” with their infectious and bouncy pop sensibilities, the album’s only real drawback is that its purposely more homogenized aesthetic has a slight tendency to leave tracks such as “Whale” and “Spring” sounding a bit too singular to stand out on a full hearing, and will probably stand up better live when their undeviating punch can be really appreciated.
Previously, Heidi’s albums had happily wandered into the 16 or 17 track mark, which can be a red flag to those with short attention spans. Here though, Heidi’s tidy 11 tracks of much more thoroughly developed material has a fascinating balance, and it’s left to the albums more leftfield moments to glue the gems together with those few tracks that may get a little lost. “Adailson” is an ode to the Brazilian shaman Heidi met on her travels, and its mystical, campfire drum-circle vibe and tales of pipe smoking, harvesting leaves for herbal teas and actual recordings of Adailson’s hypnotic Portuguese chanting certainly injects the album with a reminder of its concept and influence. Delicate finale “White Owl” unfolds a beautiful piano line around an eerie wash of wobbly chimes and deep dark atmospherics, while an unusually tender and sweet sounding Heidi declares “Everybody knows he’s the greatest dancer / See him spin around / White Owl” and leaves the album on an equally beautiful yet spooky question mark.
Heidi has spent the much of the eight years since her debut letting her HK “character” dominate the show, which is perhaps what has overshadowed her development as an actual recording artist, and kept her (comfortably) in her cult status. Imaginature however is a mature, wise and extremely well considered attempt at allowing Heidi herself flex her muscles through the quirks, scope and imagination of her alter ego, and it’s a meeting of minds that appears to work very well on the whole, and makes for a unique album that will certainly grow on you like moss.
The Swede’s may have dominated the “cool” Scandinavian takeover of Electro-pop over these last few years, while Björk happily dominates the higher brow of electronic singers/producers for the rest of the Nords. Robyn will likely continue to indulge the masses in guilt-free pop, The Knife have recently made a rather angular return to the dancefloor, and Jonna Lee’s IAMAMIWHOAMI has been a prime example of reinvention through an expensive and overly-conceptual experiment with the aloof. Maybe, just maybe, HK119 has finally reached a point with Imaginature where a Finn could actually be the artist to bridge all the above into one rather promising, digestible and rewarding Nordic whole.
Imaginature is available on One Little Indian. [Release page]
