Ø - ARC 1 (2019)

‘Arc 1’ is the first posthumous release of Mika Vainio’s solo material, taken from a large collection of his unreleased music. The archive series will present pieces which can be considered as completed works.

‘ARC 1’ is a fittingly contemplative example of Mika’s patient, sensuous minimalism released under his solo moniker, Ø. The 34 minute work was conceived for the radio project ‘Ambient City’ at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Helsinki, 1994, and can be considered a complete, singular work, and one of the purest in his catalogue.

Working at the threshold of perception in a way comparable with fellow minimalist masters such as Eliane Radigue or Kevin Drumm, ‘ARC 1’ follows a glacial transition from elemental subbass pulses through sustained, hovering drone before almost imperceptibly changing state half way, when a field of static disruption reorganises the piece’s atoms, only for the noise to recede and reveal a more complex timbral aurora, and the piece’s final tract of isolationist ambience flickering like northern lights.

The first volume comprise of two selections from the 48:22 long untitled recording Mika Vainio did as Ø for the radio project Ambient City at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Helsinki 1994.