A psychedelic blend of bagpipes and electronic sound: OOPUS release second album ‘Folk On Acid’

This article is a repost from my old blog sound-a-word.

Estonian folktronica band OOPUS master the art of blending together electronic music with traditional folk elements and combining it with visuals and light installations to create a captivating sound experience. I sat down with Johannes Ahun and Mari Meentalo to talk about the new album ‘Folk On Acid’.

OOPUS consists of Mari Meentalo (vocals, traditional music, Estonian bagpipes, designer), Johannes Ahun (sound engineer, electronic music), Aleksander Sproghis (lights and visuals, installations), and Raho Aadla (dancer). Kerttu Kruusla supports them with artwork and photography.

OOPUS’ music is highly addictive and best consumed live. They combine Estonian folklore elements like bagpipes and runo songs with electronic sound and classic synths such as TR-09 and TB-03. At their live shows, they enhance the sound with visuals and light installations to create a hypnotic experience and electrifying vibe that will take you to another time and space.

Initially planned to be released last year, Covid restrictions and not being able to properly perform in front of the crowd made them postpone the album release to June 2022. But the wait was worth it.

I met Johannes Ahun and Mari Meentalo in their studio at Põhjala tehas in Tallinn where they also produced the new album.

To understand why they’re doing what they’re doing, we have to go back to the first album release

To understand the creation of the new album ‘Folk On Acid’ and why they are doing what they are doing, we have to go back to the release of their first album ‘Nõidus’ (Sorcery) which was released in February 2019.

It was the beginning of OOPUS as a band, but it also built the groundwork for ‘Folk On Acid’.

Johannes and Mari both studied at Viljandi Culture Academy.

Mari’s major was flute and Estonian bagpipes and she collaborated with some electronic music artists and DJs. Johannes studied sound engineering and played in bands, percussion, guitar, and the synthesisers.

“I realised that I love the synths and am really into electronic music. But I was also a true fan of folk music in general,” Johannes explained. “So, I tried to find a collaborative or a good band member. Someone who would be interested in developing this electronic- and folk-like combination. When I was jamming with some friends at the Academy, Mari came along and was immediately hooked.”

“I’d been collaborating with electronic music artists and DJs and thought traditional music and electronic dance music have so much in common,” Mari added. “It seemed only logical to combine them and put these two worlds together. And when Johannes approached me, I thought, yes, let's do this. This was the beginning of the band, but also the starting point for creating our first album ‘Nõidus’.”

The creation of the first album happened very fast. “We wanted to prove that we can do it and that we are able to put together such a format. We wanted to prove we are serious with what we’re doing,” Johannes stated.

And already back then, they were dreaming of the album they’ve released now.

“The skills we have today, the sound we create today was something we already had in mind back then,” Johannes said. “Today, with ‘Folk On Acid’ we’ve achieved the sound and the ideas that we were looking for when we created the first album.”

OOPUS had been using the phrase ‘Folk On Acid’ way before the release of the album. I remember their showcase at Tallinn Music Week in September 2021, where they transported us on the most epic trip of our lives. Simply triggered by the music, the light show, and the hypnotic magic OOPUS create on stage. Calling their album ‘Folk On Acid’ really is no understatement.

The phrase itself was coined in 2019 by their sound engineer, José Diogo Neves, a teacher from the Academy and a good friend of the band. “When he was listening to our music for the first album he said: ‘Guys, this is folk on acid!’ And we thought, wow! That’s a strong name for it. Maybe we should use it. But the sound of the first album wasn’t there yet. So, we decided to remember this phrase for later and called our first album ‘Nõidus’ instead. It’s about the combination of traditional Estonian music and electronic music without changing one or the other.”

When José made up the phrase ‘Folk On Acid’, the band was encouraged that this will be the next album name and this is where they want to go.

Back in 2019, they neither had the gear nor the equipment to create the sound they dreamt of creating one day. Now, in 2022, they can finally say they are where they wanted to be.

The second album happened thanks to live streams

During Covid times, they couldn’t do any live performances but didn’t let the time go to waste. They spent a lot of time doing live streams on YouTube, rehearsing in the studio, jamming, and working on visuals. This built the creative groundwork for the songs on the new album.

“Every time we play there’s something new happening. You turn your instruments on. You're going to jam or start a new remix. When we’re playing, I’m always trying different things to create something new,” Johannes said. And Mari added: “As we’re playing around with the synths, suddenly a traditional song or melody line or lyric comes to mind that I think would fit really well.  So, we try it out.”

What happened was the creation of new music every time they did a live stream. Most of the tracks of the new album have been released in these live streams prior to the album’s release. But since the live stream format is much longer, those tracks needed to be cut down and produced to a shorter version to be playable for radio.

‘Folk On Acid’ was produced, recorded, and mixed in the OOPUS Stuudio by Mari and Johannes and mastered by their sound engineer, José Diogo Neves.

With the help of crowdfunding and the support of the Cultural Endowment of Estonia, they've been able to release the album also on vinyl and cassette, in addition to classic CD copies and digital platforms.

Visuals and light installations are an integral part of OOPUS

OOPUS not just only understand the art of mixing electronic and folk music together, but also the art of putting this sound in a visual spotlight. Lights and visuals play an essential role in their shows.

The mastermind behind these is Aleksander. He designs the sketches and models and brings them to life at the live shows.

“We had a strong vision that the visuals or the lights should be a big part of our show,” Johannes explained. “If you work closely with the visual or light installation artist, you develop what happens on the stage together. So, we're really lucky to have Aleksander in the team.”

The sound of the new album incorporates Aleksander‘s work. And the design of the album is based on Aleksander's light installations and technical drawings. The different angles of the MOONBASE installation with approximate measurements and other details on the album cover were designed and built by him.

“Each format is unique and it's great to see how well all the different elements, music and design, finally came together,” Mari said.

“We are proud to say that it's all in-house production and we’re fully independent,” Johannes added.

Dancing as live input for live visuals

For two years now, they have also worked with the dancer Raho Aadla, who is also a graduate of Viljandi Culture Academy.

“He approached us and said he wants to collaborate, so we thought, okay, let’s try,” Johannes said. “Raho wanted his own stage. And Aleksander made it happen.”

Now, Raho has his own stage where he usually dances in front of a camera that streams to a big screen making it a live stream on stage during a live show.

But Raho doesn’t only bring a new element on stage, he also brings a new element to the team.

Johannes and Mari are connected through music. Aleksander, the light and installations artist, has so far been a solo player next to the sound duo. With Raho, he got a partner in visuals.

“It’s a new chapter in our collaboration,” Johannes stated. “Aleksander can now use a physical, real human being in his visuals. Raho is the live input for Aleksander’s live visuals.”

Having so many different mediums, it’s always a challenge to showcase these various aspects. They can’t always perform in the middle of the crowd, so they have to perform on stage. Sometimes the focus is on visuals, sometimes on light installations. Either way, the live shows are ecstatic.

Psychedelic new video for ‘Saunamees’ accompanies album

The album release was accompanied by a psychedelic video for the track ‘Saunamees’ (sauna man), which emphasises once again the importance of visuals. The authors for the video are Aleksander and Raho. Raho plays the ancient Estonian hero Mürsk who enjoys the purifying effects of an immensely high heat sauna and uses iron rods instead of traditional sauna birch whisks.

The hard work paid off

It’s good to see that the band’s hard work paid off. They’re doing rehearsals, and lives, and are also part of discussions talking about the art and how to do it.

End of August and in September, they will play concerts abroad and a showcase festival in Italy. For the autumn, they have some releases coming up. On top of that, OOPUS will turn 5 this year. So, we can expect cool things to happen in the near future.

With the new 9-track album ‘Folk On Acid’, we get the typical OOPUS elements such as bagpipes and psychedelic synths that make their infectious and highly danceable sound. We can clearly hear how much they’ve grown in their music and how confident they feel now with their craft.

‘Folk On Acid’ is a great blend of electronic sound and traditional folk elements.

You can find the album here.

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