Jori Hulkkonen

Dualizm is Finnish artist Jori Hulkkonen’s fifth outing to date with French imprint F-Communications and it digs deeper into jazz than any of Jori’s previous work, while continuing his explorations of synth pop that began on collaborations with Montreal’s Tiga. The album begins with a plastic synth bass warble only to leave behind the artificial landscape with clean piano tones introducing the lush, emotive jazz ballad, "Science.” As acid lines tastefully and fittingly creep up at the end of the song, it becomes clear that Hulkkonen can make beautiful music and do practically anything as a producer, acoustic or electronic. Dualizm continues with a number of synth pop influenced electro disco songs. In "Dislocated,” Hulkkonen captures a certain melancholy through a cyberpunk theme, exploring the hopelessness of the nature versus technology dichotomy in a way that is beautiful and not at all preachy. "Lo Fiction” and "Dying In Beauty” have the most dance floor impact, with punchy electro bass lines and swinging rhythms, proving that Jori can still rock a club. With vocal contributions by John Foxx (formerly of Ultravox), Tiga, and Swedish pop star, Jose Gonzales, among others, Dualizm is an amazing album that is enjoyable from beginning to end.