Vildaluodda/Wildprint

Hildá Länsman, a young vocalist from northern Finland's indigenous Sámi community, fuses traditional joik chant-singing with electronic pop in the duo Solju with her mother Ulla Pirttijärvi-Länsman. In her new duo Vildá, she teams up with accordionist-singer Viivi Maria Saarenkylä for a more ambitious, risk-taking mix of Sámi and Finnish folk with organic sounds from further afield, thanks to various guests. These range from calabash playing by Aruban drummer Christopher Rodulfo and classical violin from Bulgaria's Stiliana Ravelska to beatboxing by Venla Ilona Blom of vocal group Tuuletar.

Joik and accordion is a non-traditional pairing, yet it sounds natural as Länsman's spiralling vocals entwine like DNA strands with Saarenkylä's accordion arpeggios. The vocals can be harsh at times, as on ‘Beana Ciellá’ (The Dog Barks) and ‘Mäkrävaaran Äijö’ (The Old Man of Mäkrä Hill). The latter echoes Värttinä's ‘Äijö’ incantation, released when these musicians were just little kids.

The pair spin a wide array of sonic textures, atmospheres and emotions, from the elegiac accordion solo ‘Winter Woods’ to ‘Utsjoki-Disko’, a playful romp of youthful romance in the EU's northernmost municipality – a sparsely populated wilderness where you might seek some place dark to escape the bright midnight sun.