Having never been to Finland, I assume it’s rather like this aerial landscape: cold and gray, yet somehow beautiful and inviting. Fotoshop, the pseudonym of Jarno-Erik Faarinen, fits that description as well with a Nordic take on chillwave.
The Finnish DJ/producer recorded, mixed and mastered his first full length, Lifeforms, on a laptop in his bedroom — as is the custom these days. But it’s hardly a carbon copy of Washed Out.
Whereas Ernest Greene conjures sun drenched oceanside imagery, Faarinen is his snowbound counterpart. There’s a bit of darkness in Fotoshop, and a flair for the dramatic similar to Danish shoegazers Mew. Listen to “Too Little, Too Late” (click ‘buy this track’ for a free download link) and see what I mean:
Take some found footage of the Wright brothers and the Gemini missions and you’ve got a lovely DIY video for “Speed vs. Distance”:
I detect some Slowdive in there — always a good thing in my book. Stream the rest of Fotoshop’s Lifeforms here.
