LÄJÄ ÄIJÄLÄ & ALBERT WITCHFINDER “Centuries of Youth”
By Octopi Mills
Well, well...our old buddy ALBERT WITCHFINDER has returned again like an old serpent into the garden. Accompanied with some fellow from Finnish hardcore band TERVEET KADET, it seems, we have a new album here and one with a strange album cover showing meat and vegetables, and boy, Doc, this one does look weird. I will put on my dancing shoes and meddle out into the grasses here and now as we begin on the trek…
Lyrics are said to be taken from ALBERT's diaries throughout life and from youth, and "All made up" starts it all off, as weird as weird can be...A sort of spoken word reading happens with mangled noises winging around an insect pulse, the heart of the affair. The theme to this...seems to be a man masturbating into flowing water.
"Hassle" begins with an electronic sort of prison alarm that repeats as a madman rants amidst noises from a troubled mind. There’s a non conformity in the sound, as a rogue insect who has turned against the great hive. The collection of "songs" walks that great and frail line betwixt madman and artistic genius, fool and vegetable kingdom a the terraced trials of dear youth and folly- electronica, poetry..madness. The speaker or narrator eventually believes he has the power to seduce certain women as his prowess grows and if there's no an aspect of comedy to it, however dark, then there can be no humor without irony.
Delirium takes over as the affair becomes a psychological study for some or a peephole for toms, others. Our buddy ALBERT has penned a very romantic saga of prose here that makes a romance novel look like melting bones through x ray glasses and just before Valentines Day. Released in 350 copies on vinyl, i'd suggest sending a copy to one's love on such a day with a box of chocolates or red wine. These men have overdone themselves here in terms of weirdness, all around. The end sets in and there is a strong feeling of a man who has gone over the edge, and soon the men with the white coats will arrive to get the loverboy who narrates, and hollers...Truly a strange piece of work is this romantic tragedy, which must be truly experienced to be believed. Much honors to these fellows for such a display, and another for the best of list of 2021, if we are still in that year.