Philip Holm | Akateeminen Kirjakauppa

Trådlös is the solo debut album of Helsinki based musician Philip Holm. It is performed on the tailor's fiddle - a unique instrument built out of an old sewing machine. The music is both meditative and aggresive, drawing inspiration from folk music, sound art and noise. All but one track are completely acoustic and recorded without overdubs.

The tailor's fiddle is similar to the hurdy gurdy in the sense that it has a wheel rubbing against the strings. However, on the tailor's fiddle, when the wheel turns, the sewing needle also moves up and down. To complete the circle from sound production to reproduction, the album is released on vinyl only. The spinning wheel and needle of the record player reproduce the sounds that the mechanics of the sewing machine originally produced.

Both by chance and by choice the record was produced locally to a great extent. Finding the sewing machine at a yard sale, converting it to an instrument at a luthier shop (the instrument was built by luthiers Mayim Alpert and Lauri Kallinen), mixing the album and pressing the vinyls at Helsingin Levypuristamo was all done in Helsinki within a radius of 750 meters.

Philip Holm (1987) is the band leader of Barlast and member of groups such as Oiro Pena and Buko Shane. He performs regulary on the double bass, electric bass and his experimental instruments both in Finland and abroad.

"One of summer’s most original records [...] he’s spun straw into gold." Richard Allen, A closer listen