Addendum to the sweet batch of Timo Van Lujik-centred LPs (Af Ursine, Elodie, Lumine) newly in stock this week, Saivo documents The Belgium-based Finn farther exploring the heavily psychedelic duo, Ilta Hämärä alongside Bart De Paepe (Sylvester Anfang II, Bokrijk, Charles Vögele) for De Paepe’s Sloowax – an offshoot of the prolific Sloow Tapes label.

The scope for Saivo is perhaps more dilated than Van Lujik’s trio of new releases, and somewhat closer to the electro-acoustic wanderlust of his Af Ursin project thanks to the a mutual sense of trippiness that we’d also associate with De Paepe’s work in Sylvester Anfang II. Essentially the pair divine a sort of pineal alchemy inside, gingerly approaching from stereo extremes to frame a widescreen, lysergic sound between the eyes and around the head with beautifully illusive and elusive mixing treatments.

They first draw us in with a magickal shimmer of percussion and keys in Spektrin Huntu before seamlessly segueing into the ascendent kosmiche trajectories of Sielun Ankalo, then following the spirals of Tuoksuva to the lense-smearing astral creme of Kynttilänvalon Jumalat and the bifurcating raga drone helixes of Kuvitteellinen Alkuperä at the run-out.

That all appears to be a sort of mental preparation for the steepest leg of the journey, the summit of Tähdenlentoja on the B-side. Freed of time restraints, here they really billow outward and upwards, buoyed by updrafting strings and angel’s breath harps to a pinched highpoint where oxygen is in short supply and depth perceptions become warped, intangible.