Playlists

New Ambient and Experimental Music from Finland

Words by Music Finland

Published 3.2.2023

Get yourself acquainted with the Finnish ambient and experimental music scene!

Since experimental is a relatively abstract tag for a music genre, we look at it from a broad angle, also including music from the ambient realm. Our ambient and experimental playlist covers music ranging from surreal sound manipulations and freaky electronics to lush ambient soundscapes and leftfield-leaning lo-fi pop.

The playlist is updated frequently.

New Experimental Music from Finland on Apple Music

New Ambient and Experimental Music from Finland on Spotify

Listen to Music Finland's frequently updated genre playlists

A. Blomqvist

In recent years, A. Blomqvist has become a prominent figure in solo piano music, boasting over 100 million streams worldwide. Following the success of two self-released albums, “Improv.” and “The Self,” each contributing to his growing reputation, he announced in March 2024 his collaboration with XXIM Records and Sony Music. The "post-genre" musician and composer has also started his own label, Nordic Euphony Records, for like-minded artists.

Aleksi Perälä

To call Aleksi Perälä prolific would be a grand understatement – even on a slow year the internationally recognised electronic producer, formerly known as Ovuca, releases at least half a dozen albums. On his more recent records, Perälä has used the novel musical tuning system called Colundi. His music, which combines IDM with fluttering microtonal melodies has been released by labels such Rephlex and Clone. His albums usually come in series, such as the GAIA gestalt (2023) which combines 15 albums, and track names being merely series of adjoining letters and numbers.

Selma Savolainen & Helen Svoboda

Vocalist Selma Savolainen combines Finnish folk sounds with jazz and alt singer-songwriter styles. Savolainen's jazz debut "Horror Vacui", released May 2023 via UK-based label Whirlwind, is a set of emotive songs composed and arranged specifically for this sextet. After the solo debut, Savolainen joined forces with Finnish-Australian bassist Helen Svoboda for the experimental "We Make Sounds This Way" album, released in 2024.

Lawrence Walther

Lawrence Walther a.k.a. Lauri Miettunen describes himself as "a cozy guitarist/composer from Finland," which suits his sound and style just perfectly. Walther made his entry in the lofi beats scene in 2020, and has quickly amassed a discography of about 100 singles and three albums. In 2023, he teamed up with Recalibration Machine and Less Gravity for the collaborative album "Dune Days." His songs are amiable and calming, with bright and vivid guitar melodies taking center stage.

Arttu Silvast

The Finnish composer and audio creative Arttu Silvast released his first solo album "Polarity" in 2021. Inspired by the landscapes and isolation of the Arctic, his music combines organic and synthesized sounds creating spacious ambient soundscapes. Among the piano themes, a variety of instruments can be heard on the album all the way from the temple bells of Myanmar to more traditional Scandinavian instruments.

Droemsk

Droemsk (stylized in all lowercase) is a music producer, sound artist, and sound design student at the University of the Arts, Helsinki. droemsk produces magical and bouncing chill beats, influenced by 90s boom-bap and jazzy vibes. In the fall of 2024 droemsk will release lofi pop album with US-based singer Myself. Besides the beats music by droemsk, you can find their music also in projects like Anna Brear's album They Shiver on a Spring Evening and the solo ambient project Uniluoto.

Orvokki

Orvokki is a young singer/songwriter and producer, whose music mixes organic and digital sounds, taking the listeners on a fantastic journey, where elements of world music, unusual structures and rhythmic surprises are intertwined into an electric pulsating dream – "ambient colliding with old-fashioned longing and wild breakbeats", to quote the album's five-star review in Helsingin Sanomat. Behind the mononym lies Orvokki Oittila, who has studied music production in Germany and produced her debut album "Kasvotusen" album almost entirely by herself.

Kupla

With dozens of albums and EPs already under his belt, beatmaker Kupla (neé Lauri Achté) was born and raised in Helsinki, but has been based in London since 2013. Kupla has studied classical music and jazz, and recently also picked up the clarinet to spice up his chilled tracks, which have been streaming dozens of millions of times on Spotify's popular playlists such as "Lo-Fi Beats" and "Chill Lofi Study Beats", et cetera.

Kepa Lehtinen

Kepa Lehtinen is an electronica composer known from his work as a film and media composer. He uses the combination of theremin, piano, and contrabass to create the retro yet hi-fi sounds heard in his 2020 album "It is ok to be sad and dark". The album was followed by the ep "Face Plant" in 2021.

Nikita Rafaelov

Nikita Rafaelov is a keyboardist-pianist and composer known for his collaborations with artists such as Teppo Mäkynen (on the Atonal Drums project), Markus Perttula, Silva Kallionpää and countless more. Rafaelov released his debut solo ''Spirit of Gaia'' in 2018. In his own works, Rafaelov uses e.g. acoustic and prepared pianos, loopers, synthesizers, electric pianos and samples, creating minimalist, rhythmic and hypnotic compositions. The versatile keyboardist effortlessly cruises through the cool waters of jazz, electro-acoustic music and ambient with been hip-hop, new age and lo-fi aesthetics as added inspiration.

Amnesia Scanner

Amnesia Scanner is a Berlin-based Finnish duo, who released their debut ep ”AS” on Young Turks label in 2016, with critical acclaim from Pitchfork, Allmusic, Resident Advisor and many others. The mysterious band followed with the self-released album ”AS Live”, the mixtape ”AS Truth” (2017), and albums "Another Life" (2018), "Lexachast" (with Bill Kouligan, 2019), "Tearless" (2020), "STROBE.RIP" (2023) and "HOAX" (2024).

FMSR

FMSR (for my secret reasons) is the latest musical laboratory of Helsinki-based composer-producer-musician Marja Ahlsved. The first EP “unEtudes” consists of five songs, all originally composed for piano alone. However, the songs also feature synthesizers and, in the song unEtude 0 (Tragedy 2Y), lyrics worded by the composer’s artist alter ego Mahls.

Project Vainiolla / Kalle Vainio

On Project Vainiolla's album "Waves of Inner Peace", reel-to-reel recorders released composer Kalle Vainio to create an hour-long audiovisual artwork. In the composition one can hear e.g. string orchestra, Buchla 200e and Serge modular synthesizer, prepared piano and five-string kantele. Every recorded sound has passed through an analog tape such as reel to reel, elcaset or cassette recorders. Instruments on the record are prepared piano, modular synthesizer, string orchestra and 5-string kantele.

Venla llona Blom

Venla llona Blom is a multi-award-winning vocalist, composer and beatboxer from Finland. She has toured around the world with her internationally acclaimed band Tuuletar and worked as a soloist in various projects with big bands, symphony orchestras and choirs. Blom is specialised in extended vocal techniques, vocal percussions and traditional singing styles deriving from Scandinavian and Slavic folk music and also trained as a classical singer. Venla Ilona Blom’s debut solo album “Nevrak” is slated for release in September 2024.

Malmiwaara

Malmiwaara is the electro-acoustic solo project of long-time guitarist Mikko Malmivaara. His debut single Alkajainen combines folk instruments manipulated using C-cassettes with electronic music production methods. Malmiwaara's music is instrumental music that balances the border between acoustic and electronic, and the genre could perhaps be described as folktronica, downtempo, electronic folk music or, in Malmiwaara's own words, "Nordic electronica".

Pietu Arvola

Helsinki-based producer and musician Pietu Arvola composes experimental music using electronic instruments and field recordings. Since his debut in 2017 (as Bereen Ondo), his music has combined broken lo-fi ambient with melancholic sound textures. Arvola creates his own abstract visuals to accompany his music, utilizing circuit-bent video mixers and CRT TVs.

Pauli Lyytinen

Pauli Lyytinen is a Helsinki based musician and composer. Lyytinen´s approach to music is always improvisatory and experimental regardless of the genre. As saxophonist he´s been studying and exploring widely extended sounds and techniques and the use of effect pedals with acoustic sax.

Ánnámáret

Ánnámáret is Anna Näkkäläjärvi-Länsman, Sámi musician who lives and whose work is based in Nuorgam, northernmost Finland. Her music is inspired by the life and the nature in Sápmi. Ánnámáret’s strength as an artist springs from having grown up between two cultures and, thus, in understanding these cultures and their collisions and similarities.

Timo Kaukolampi

With his countless music projects – including his current band K-X-P, Timo Kaukolampi has been an influential artist in the Finnish music scene since the late 1980s. With his solo music he has managed to reinvent himself as a musician and is now finally getting the recognition he deserves. Expect: pulsating synths and distant beats, cosmic disco, techno and dense cinematic ambience.

Niko Demus

A main figure from the Helsinki-based Below0 label, Niko Demus started releasing music in 2019. His sound nods to classic electronic and ambient music from the 1990's as well as emotional, melodic and energetic and euphoric trance, rave and garage house of today.

Marko Nyberg

Marko Nyberg (also known as the founder of Husky Rescue) draws inspiration from his real-life experiences and further from the art of Hilma af Klint. Nyberg’s music combines neoclassical with techno joined by the sounds of live string ensemble. In early 2022 Nyberg released his solo debut "Ingrid EP". The follow-up, a 9-song album named "Solveig", (out April 2024) is an intense mix of mainly instrumental neoclassical, ambient and techno, with singer Ringa Manner (Ruusut, The Hearing) guesting on two songs.

AHO

AHO is the solo project by Helsinki based producer and composer Matti Ahopelto. Aho's music blends ambient textures with vivid compositions. His first full length album "Nowinter Nosummer" was released in 2020 by PME Records. On the debut album, Aho's the simmering electronics are faced with organic instruments creating a unique soundscape. Aho's second album "Odyssey" saw the light of day in the Summer of 2022.

Laura Hynninen

Musician and visual artist Laura Hynninen has performed as a soloist, chamber musician and orchestral harpist since the 1990s. Hynninen has held regular positions as principal harpist in the Finnish National Opera Orchestra and the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra. In her solo projects, Hynninen combines her own compositions and visual art.

Erika Sirola

Erika Sirola is a singer-songwriter best known for her over 300 million Spotify plays garnering hit feature Speechless (2018) with Robin Schultz. Born and raised in Helsinki, Sirola has also spent a lot of time in her mother's homeland Canada. While signed to Elektra Records in 2022, Sirola released the "who?" ep, which was already far removed from the euro-centric EDM style of Speechless, landing nearer the melancholic art pop of Lana Del Rey, laced with a heavily synthesized modern production. On later singles, her style has become increasingly experimental, with influences from dark electro, future bass, and techno.

Pelkkä Poutanen

Pelkkä Poutanen, the solo project of composer and musician Petra Poutanen plays folk music with a modern twist using techniques of Scandinavian and Finno-Ugrian folk singing as well as throat singing. Her solo debut “Pyhä Veri Vuotaa”, released in 2022, takes influence from around the world and has been described as a layered entity with acrobatic vocals and a rich sound world.

Olli Aarni

Multi-disciplinary artist Olli Aarni makes videos, sound art, sound poetry and music in groups such as Band of Weeds, Misty Moon, Lichen Gumbo, and Ostos. Aarni's solo music could be described as dark, experimental ambient and it is best available on his Bandcamp page.

Max Lilja

Max Lilja is a Finnish solo artist, cellist and composer – and one of the founders of the cello rock band Apocalyptica. Lilja has released three cello electro solo albums and has composed music for films, games, radio, and stage. Lilja has performed solo concerts in Europe and the US and in his career over 1000 concerts in more than sixty countries around the world. His 2024 album "Six Shades of Bach" was an electronic reimagination of Bach's iconic cello suites.

Antero Mentu

Guitarist, multi-instrumentalist, and composer Antero Mentu's sound is a blend of psychedelia, folk, global sounds, jazz, and experimental music. Mentu is known from several prog, jazz, and world music bands such as Aalto, Sound The Bell!, Utopianisti, and Landscaping Team. His latest solo album "Näin unta kaukaisesta maasta" was released on Eclipse Music in 2024.

Lauri Porra

Lauri Porra is a multi-talented composer and musician in fourth generation (and grandson of Jean Sibelius, as well as bassist in power metal giants Stratovarius) whose compositions have been performed by symphony orchestras around the world. In addition to bass, he has studied cello, piano, double bass and trumpet, and pursued classical singing. In addition to composing music for orchestra, film and other media, Porra has released four critically acclaimed solo albums. His group Lauri Porra Flyover Ensemble combines genres from rock and jazz to classical to electronic.

Playlists

100 Finnish songs you should hear

In honor of Finland’s 100th anniversary we compiled a playlist of 100 Finnish songs that have...

Music Finland, 26.1.2022

Playlists