There's music in the sighing of a reed;
There's music in the gushing of a rill;
There's music in all things, if men had ears:
Their earth is but an echo of the spheres…
[Lord Byron]

Being an enthusiastic devotee of the Romantic period – from the great literary geniuses like Poe, Shelly, Wordsworth and Coleridge to the surpassingly beautiful art of Blake and Goya – I tend to seek beauty and meaning in music. Like Keats said, "Beauty is truth, truth beauty... That is all ye know on earth, and all ye need to know." Often bands shoot for the stars, producing intricate and highly bombastic albums, yet forget about the pleasures of simplicity. Kauan, on the other hand, lingers upon earth’s simplest of elements, forms and harmony. Their music creates an enigmatic, dark and gloomy imagery of a forest where the trees stand leafless and the ground is shrouded with snow. There, your only comfort comes from a lifeless funeral pyre, which acts like a light at the end of a tunnel. Indeed, Kauan’s music is terribly melancholic, atmospheric and dark; a rebirth of Romanticism to say the least. It is a blend of folk ambient music and doom metal with a touch of gothic elements. The many instruments – like the keyboard, cello, flute, saxophone etc – all create a soothing and peaceful atmosphere; a blissful and introvert heaven. The music is rather slow-paced with, at times, a few heavier passages. A diverse range of vocals – consisting of female vocals, clean male vocals, and grunts – can be heard throughout the album. Everything is in Finnish: from the lyrics to the text within the booklet. As impressive is the artwork. The Russians have always been famous for their modernistic art, and this simple yet quite elegant cover – resembling that of the impressionism era – drowns you within its simple color and sorrowful emotion.

Beginning in Medias reas, “Villiruusu” is possibly one of the slowest and gloomiest songs off “Lumikuuro.” In fact, one cannot find any elements that would label it a “metal song.” However, the track is quite impressive, mixing keyboard, saxophones, clean and acoustic guitars to create a mesmerizing harmony. “Aamo Ja kaste” is rather doomy: slow-paced, heavy guitars, grunts and some clean vocals (in a semi-choral form). Naturally, there are heavier tracks as well on the album; “Koivun Elama” and “Lumikuuro” are examples of these. They are rather doom/death in nature, mixing heavy riffs, a faster paced drumming and grunts. These heavier passages are blended with slow-paced – often keyboard solo – parts that create a beautiful unison of these two contrasting elements. All and all, each track is filled with little surprises and sounds rather impressive, fresh and original. I’ve been lured within the comforting arms of Kauan’s music.

I can’t really think of another band to compare Kauan efficiently with; I can trace some elements that do resemble acts like Agalloch and Virgin Black (only less choral). Forest of Shadows – especially in the composition matter – also comes to mind. However, these are all loosely based comparison. To really enjoy this celestial album from this extremely talented group, I suggest you get a copy of it and experience the blissful yet melancholic sensation it will produce.
Because everything is in Finnish, I can’t give much information about the band; I have no knowledge of the language. The word Kauan is Finnish for “a long period of time” or "for a long time" and “Lumikuuro” is the band’s debut album. Furthermore, this album was released through BadMoodMan Music, a sub-label of Solitude Productions. This is about it for background information.
I highly recommend this album to anyone interested in sorrowful and dark music.

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Other articles for Kauan:

Album review

Aava Tuulen Maa»

by Jake 24 Jan, 2010