Biography

Hush Hush Records presents a bold new exploration with Open, a collaborative album between veteran Finnish musicians Tapani Rinne and Juha Mäki-Patola.

An organic melding of each musician’s distinctive style that yields their own unique shared language, Open reveals a cohesive meditative thread through ambient, jazz, and neo-classical music, paving the way for a refreshingly cool and sophisticated Nordic sound.

Tapani Rinne and Juha Mäki-Patola were strangers prior to connecting online, yet they’ve both been active players within the Finnish music community for decades. Rinne’s illustrious career as a saxophonist, clarinetist, and composer has been an evolving path of collaborative works, solo releases, and an array of commissioned work dating back to the mid-1980s. It is this consistent communal curiosity that opened the doors for this album, as he was happy to join forces with emerging solo composer Juha Mäki-Patola upon a simple invitation via Instagram to work together on new material.

Although his discography may not run as deep as Rinne’s, Mäki-Patola has been active in the Finnish music community for over a decade. Originally serving as a member of several bands and working as a producer, musician, and engineer for both local and international artists from various genres, Mäki-Patola took this multifaceted experience to steer the vision for the type of music he desired to compose and produce under his own name. Inspired by the contemporary neo-classical composers of this era, Mäki-Patola began to create introspective and reflective instrumental pieces that sought a specific calmness.

Open was written quickly during a 3-month creative burst in early 2021. Working remotely from their respective home studios in Helsinki, the two artists eagerly traded ideas back-and-forth to find a warm, immersive, and transportive shared sonic vision.

Over its 10-song run through cerebral jazz, glacial ambient, and cinematic neo-classical styles, Open introduces a delightful new shade into both artist’s repertoires as well as Hush Hush’s amorphous catalog. Open distinguishes itself with an expansive and contemplative aesthetic informed by Finland’s icy climate and long winters, as well as the atmospheric nature of the Nordic experimental jazz scene. Boasting a rich painterly sound that beautifully blends ambient, jazz, and neo-classical into their own unique expression, Rinne and Mäki-Patola seamlessly fuse their talents to create a hypnotic debut collaborative record.

Tapani Rinne - saxophones, clarinets 
Juha Mäki-Patola - synthesizers, piano, organ, guitar 

Tracklist

1. Brevity
2. Open Part I
3. Still
4. Distant
5. Leave
6. Peak
7. Open Part II
8. Hope
9. Fall
10. Hover