Ville Aslak Raasakka highlights environmental disasters through his compositions
The soundscapes of coal power plants, oil rigs, and deforestation transform into music on SibaRecords’ new release.
Coal, Wood, Oil is the latest release of SibaRecords, the record label of the Sibelius Academy, Uniarts Helsinki. In it, composer Ville Aslak Raasakka presents new works that explore the extraction, drilling, and logging of coal, oil, and wood, the use of energy, and the spread of various byproducts back into nature.
From oil rigs to the crackle of fire – sound materials as building blocks of composition
The compositions on the album are based on field recordings Raasakka collected from a Finnish coal power plant, a British oil rig, petrochemical-based cosmetic products, and logging sites. The collected sounds range from very quiet, nearly inaudible sounds to the loud noises of machinery. In Raasakka’s compositions, they are transformed into music.
Everyday Etudes No. 1: garden (2015) explores the urban relationship with nature through gardens. Coal Power Station (2016) takes the listener to the now-closed Hanasaari coal power plant in Helsinki. Everyday Etudes No. 3: fireplace (2021) brings the listener close to the sounds of making a fire and burning wood, while Tree Bark (2020) interprets the quietest sounds of tree bark with wind instruments. Everyday Etudes No. 2: benzene (2019) brings the sounds of petrochemical-based beauty products and their advertising music into the context of art music, and Oil Rig (2020) employs chamber music techniques to convey the sounds of a British oil rig, oil, and its workers.
Soundscapes of the connections between humans and nature
Raasakka has long wanted to highlight ecological themes in his compositions. His concern about the loss of biodiversity led him to address environmental issues and comment on them through music. He aims to bring attention to things that often go unnoticed through his works.
“My compositions bring sounds into the concert hall from places people usually can’t access, like power plants and oil rigs. I highlight unnoticed environmental aspects, such as beauty products, and matters whose effects are not well understood, like fine particle emissions from wood burning,” Raasakka explains.
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The works on this album depict the human relationship with nature as a kind of network of spaces and objects that we interact with through our presence, actions, and consumption. By examining one’s own actions through the senses and emotions, a new perspective may emerge on how humans influence and position themselves within a complex environmental network.
Ville Raasakka is completing his doctorate on ecological composition at the Sibelius Academy, where he also teaches methods of ecological composition and sound art.
The album features performances by Zagros, Earth Ears Ensemble, Lambis Pavlou (piano), Kazutaka Morita (objects), Maria Puusaari (violin), and Eeva Rysä (cello)
More information
Ville Aslak Raasakka
ville.raasakka@uniarts.fi