II by Gnäw

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Vinyl available:

EU
https://stoned-to-death.bandcamp.com/album/ii
https://radiokhiyaban.bandcamp.com/album/gn-w-ii

US
https://centripetalforcerecords.bandcamp.com/

AU
https://ramblerecords.bandcamp.com/

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“We draw a magic circle and accept a new set of rules that reigns from there,” says Arash Ghasemi in describing the foundation of Gnäw, his duo with Simo Hakalisto. Hakalisto and Ghasemi first met in Milano, but they were born and raised in Finland and Iran, respectively. Gnäw melts together these musical roots with various chips and splinters from the different musical worlds and genres they have collected along the way. While Ghasemi brings an understanding of the vastness of the desert, Hakalisto offers the traditional Finnish "zoner" approach to composition and performance. What they create is a unique approach to Iranian traditional music played on a borderless drone chessboard.

In Gnäw Hakalisto and Ghasemi both play several traditional Finnish and Persian string instruments such as setar, santoor, or kantele. They handle the instruments on their own terms, each constantly finding new ways to interact with them. Hakalisto then feeds this palette with rich sounds from his synthesizer library, including the SOMA Terra, Moog, and a variety of modular systems. Ghasemi’s final touch is the addition of assorted instruments most closely linked with rock music, such as his film-noir and psychedelic rock inspired electric guitar lines and powerfully hypnotic, dub-inflected bass. In live settings he often loops these bass lines, helping to free his hands so that he can focus on another layer of instruments.

Self-taught musician Hakalisto was born and raised in southeastern Finland. Growing up he played violin, but dropped it as a teenager and moved on to a variety of electronic instruments. During his studies in Helsinki he was a frequent contributor to different improv collectives, but when he moved to a new town (Tampere) he suddenly found himself without his usual network of musicians and began to delve into the world of modular synths. As he remarks looking back, “it offered similarly uncertain territory as improvisation with other people.”

Ghasemi comes from Tehran. He grew up amongst his father's vinyl collection and later found further inspiration through his sister's CDr's and cassettes. He got his first guitar at the age of fifteen and quickly fell for its raw and distorted sound. He went on to study technical university in Milano where he played in several psych rock outfits, but things really started to happen when he moved to Prague in 2017. He had already met Hakalisto in Milano, where they had briefly jammed, but they did not expand upon that collaboration and form Gnäw until they had both danced on Czech soil.

Now both Hakalisto and Ghasemi are based in the Czech Republic. Ghasemi resides in Prague, and Hakalisto is based in Brno - an almost three hour journey via unreliable Czech Railways, but they have still managed to collaborate, compose, and perform at a steady pace. Amongst their many club shows Gnäw has also performed at several key alternative festivals such as Transforma, Ambient (R.I.P.), Trat, Lofofora, Fjúžn, and Lunchmeat. Gnäw debuted with the album “I,” originally released in 2021 on British experimental label Cruel Nature and later reissued in 2023 by Radio Khiyaban. Its follow-up “II” is now being released by an international coalition of labels: Stoned to Death (CZ), Radio Khiyaban (NL), Centripetal Force (US), and Ramble Records (AU). The album is available in a limited vinyl edition featuring gorgeous artwork by Andrea Vacovská and photography by Adriána Vančová.

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