Jaakko Eino Kalevi

Multi-instrumentalist Jaakko Eino Kalevi crafts an idiosyncratic strain of textural synth pop by fusing folk, funk, and psych-rock into experimental, hallucinatory song forms. Across successive projects he has altered course deliberately, shifting from the inward dream-pop textures of 2018’s Out of Touch toward the unhinged funk of the 2019 mini-album Dissolution and onward to the elemental darkwave of 2023’s Chaos Magic.

Born in Jyväskylä in central Finland, Kalevi first encountered music through Dream Theater’s prog-metal and hip-hop, then taught himself guitar and beat-making software before immersing himself in reggae, disco, techno, and additional styles. Early recordings already displayed this wide appetite, among them the coldwave-tinged 2010 album Modern Life and the aptly hazy 2013 Dreamzone EP. In 2014 he issued the disco homage Yin Yang Theatre, an EP released on DJ Tim Sweeney’s Beats in Space label, followed the next year by his self-titled album on Domino’s Weird World imprint.

Between 2015 and 2017 he performed solo concerts throughout Europe, contributed to David Byrne’s 2018 album American Utopia, and briefly joined Belgian new-wave ensemble Aksak Maboul. While completing the synth-oriented debut Orbit by his side project Man Duo, Kalevi began recording his own follow-up in 2017. That sophomore Weird World release, Out of Touch, emerged the subsequent year; tracked in Helsinki and Berlin with Kalevi handling every instrument, it expanded the panoramic, eighties-inflected pop already present in his work.

Dissolution arrived in 2019 as a concise seven-track mini-album whose lean dance rhythms and icy, expansive synth figures marked a funkier, more untamed turn. Two years later he unveiled the double album Chaos Magic, whose sinewy melodic pop, darkwave, dub reggae, and jazz-tinged psych-rock were enriched by guest appearances from Alma Jodorowsky, Jimi Tenor, Faux Real, Yu-Ching Huang, and John Moods.