Kiri Ra! by Kiri Ra!

Now here's a treat if you're a fan of mindful, Ambient music. Touching post-Classical minimalism, Folk and spiritual Jazz, the self-titled Kiri Ra! was recorded back in 2016, eleven tracks, improvised and inspired by amateur documentary films from The Swedish Film Institute archives. The artists involved are vocalist and songwriter Laura Naukkarinen (aka Lau Nau) and Jazz saxophonist Linda Fredriksson (both hailing from Finland) along with Swedish pianist Matti Bye, and each bring their own distinctive light and shade to proceedings, with instrumentation including vibraphone, modular synth, bass clarinet, flute, violin, glockenspiel and piano.

Kiri Ra! is Jazz at a sedentary pace, meandering carefree through a summer meadow. Bird call overhead. Warmth. Drifting off. At the same time, a sense of performance is ubiquitous, with creaking sounds and Fredriksson's breathy saxophone delivery lulling you back, semi-conscious. It's a pleasant balance that builds and releases in subtle hues. For example, Kites Over Gärdet opens with a gentle flair, drawing you in with its bucolic scene setting, then later, on Adventure In Väne-Ryr, a hint of African influence, with delicate pipe-playing, transports the mind elsewhere. A'Delos interrupts the flow with a vocal treatment like an angelic Julianna Barwick. The highlight comes near the end with Haplo'os delivering a sublime combination of piano and saxophone melody, reassuring you that haste is unnecessary.