As the gig progresses there appears an apparent split in the audience with one half of the crowd stroking their chins in contemplative awe and the other half dancing like their lives depend on it.

Hackney’s Two Palms is a curious venue. It’s as though the entire building has been condensed into a singular pathway from entrance, to bar, to stage. Fortunately, there’s also a pretty sizeable upper tier, giving a perfect view of whoever’s playing. The best thing about this is if the artist on stage isn’t your cup of tea then you can turn your attention to the tireless bar staff and watch them serve endless customers whilst you reminisce about when you worked in a pub for five years and how horrible/brilliant/stressful/exciting it was. 

Thankfully, Finnish synth-pop maestro Jaakko Eino Kalevi provides no such room for reverie, filling the room with some of the most exciting psychedelic synth pop you’re likely to hear. Kalevi’s music glides from one hypnotic beat to the next, merging familiar pop patterns into something that sounds completely original. His music is one partly cool arthouse introspection, partly, well, outright funky. 

Jaakko Eino Kalevi started making music back in the 90s when he was just a kid. Teaching himself how to play the riffs he and his friends heard on their favourite records. Eventually (after a brief stint as a tram driver, of all things) he would sign to Weird World / Domino before releasing his debut album in 2015. His latest album, Chaos Magic was released this month and comes highly recommended. 

Kalevi barely speaks to his audience, letting the simple arrangement of drums, bass, synth and vocal melodies do all the talking. His enigmatical stage presence only adds to his allure. In fact, he doesn’t even take centre stage, seemingly preferring to remain in the shadows whilst his excellent bassist takes up the space usually reserved for the front person. 

As the gig progresses there appears an apparent split in the audience with one half of the crowd stroking their chins in contemplative awe and the other half dancing like their lives depend on it. Which kind of sums things up really.