Hanna Ojala Takes Us Into The Realm of Deep Personal Psychology With the Ritualistic and Mythical “Earthquake”

HannaOjala_Earthquake1_crop — Hanna Ojala “Earthquake” cover

The sound of walking and a tinge of throat singing tones introduce Hanna Ojala’s single “Earthquake.” The footsteps create a unique beat, a textural percussion alongside the sound of ocean birds and Ojala’s almost meditative, plaintive vocals. The sound of water flowing in the background conveys the sense of Ojala performing and recording the track in a sacred, hidden, seaside cave to which she is whispering unconscious thoughts ritualistically. She repeats the words “You knocked me down and made me crawl, crawl crawl” three times with her voice on emotional edge. Then considers motivation with the second set of full lyrics with “Did I know you were keeping me unharmed in an earthquake?” Ojala’s voice quakes with emotion seeming to contemplate being brought what seemed low but which allowed her to weather an even worse circumstance. It suggests multiple interpretations of events in our lives and how we react to them and what we do with the energy that enters our orbit every day and to learn to be adaptable. As usual, it’s all but impossible to put a genre tag on Ojala’s works of sound art but yet another example of using one’s imagination to give a potential listener a different experience than is usually possible with more conventional music. Listen to “Earthquake” on YouTube and follow Ojala at the links provided.