Mika Kallio and Janne Tuomi are two of the most restlessly searching percussionists in Finnish improvised music. Across separate but frequently intersecting careers, both have worked consistently at the outer edge of what rhythm and texture can mean. Their debut duo album Oresme (MMM009) takes its name from Nicole Oresme, the 14th-century French philosopher, mathematician, and astronomer who theorised about the daily rotation of the Earth and the motion of celestial bodies well before the instruments existed to prove him right. In his Livre du ciel et du monde he argued that a rotating Earth and a rotating cosmos would appear identical from the inside: that all perceived motion depends entirely on where you stand. Kallio and Tuomi are asking the same questions here. Through sound.

“It’s about exploring inner and outer space,” says Tuomi. The nine tracks navigate that double territory openly. Several reach outward and deep: Bok Globules (the dense interstellar clouds that precede star formation), Eagle Nebula, Eeta Carinae, Moon-Tides. Hadein, Juwugo and Odys carry a more interior weight, untranslated and personal. Puut, the Finnish word for trees, sits near the record’s centre, grounding it. Odys closes the B side at nearly ten minutes. The album opens with a 95-second sketch and ends in open space.

Two percussion setups, one vibraphone, and the space between them. The music is patient, close-listening, and unafraid of silence.

Mika Kallio: drums, percussion, Paiste cymbals & gongs
Janne Tuomi: drums, cymbals, gongs, percussion, vibraphone

Listen at: SPOTIFY, TIDAL and all other major streaming services
Buy digital & vinyl at: Bandcamp